Torchwood Three: Difference between revisions
DeanoDeano (talk | contribs) m (→Crew) |
|||
| (735 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
'''Torchwood | {{Infobox Organisation | ||
|image = Torchwood Believe Textless.jpg | |||
|leader = {{il|[[Gerald Kneale]]|[[Tilda Brennan]]|[[Turner (Trace Memory)|Turner]]|[[Alex Hopkins]]|[[Jack Harkness]]|[[Gwen Cooper]]|[[Yvonne Hartman (Pete's World)|Yvonne Hartman]]|[[Vijay Meghani]]}} | |||
|aka = Torchwood Cardiff | |||
|affiliation = [[Torchwood Institute]] | |||
|bases = [[The Hub]] | |||
|first cs = Everything Changes (TV story) | |||
|clip = Gwen Enters Torchwood Everything Changes Torchwood | |||
|clip2 = All Hail Abaddon End Of Days Torchwood | |||
|clip3 = The Torchwood Hub is Destroyed! Day One Torchwood Children of Earth | |||
}}{{Torchwood Institute}} | |||
'''Torchwood Three''', also known as '''Torchwood Cardiff''', was a branch of the [[Torchwood Institute]]. Until [[2009]], it was [[base]]d in [[the Hub]] beneath [[Roald Dahl Plass]] in [[Cardiff Bay]] to monitor [[the Rift|the rift]] located in the [[Cardiff|city]]. | |||
It became the only major branch of the institute after the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]] and effectively ceased to exist in 2009 after several casualties, although some members continued to use the name "Torchwood" as [[Torchwood (team)|an informal team]]. In [[2017]], [[Gwen Cooper]] rebuilt Torchwood Cardiff and it was still in operation by [[2069]]. | |||
== | == Overview == | ||
For more than a hundred years, [[Captain]] [[Jack Harkness]] had a close association with Torchwood Three; he became its leader in [[2000]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) Though Torchwood Three was significantly smaller than the [[Torchwood One|London branch]], with only a handful of employees, after Torchwood One was destroyed in the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]], it became the largest surviving branch of the organisation. ([[Torchwood Two]] was a single operative in [[Glasgow]] and [[Torchwood Four]] was missing.) ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) | |||
{{ | Even before the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]], Torchwood Three had severed ties with the rest of the organisation and had become largely autonomous. Captain Jack, who did ''not'' share the organisation's fear of or desire to imprison [[the Doctor]], or its policy of placing priority on obtaining alien technology over helping people and saving lives, had by that time vowed to continue Torchwood as the kind of organisation which would make the Doctor proud. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) | ||
[[Category:Torchwood | |||
[[Category:Cardiff]] | == Mission profile and operations == | ||
Torchwood Three set out to defend Earth at any cost, even when opposing its own government to do so. ([[TV]]: ''[[Children of Earth]]'') | |||
=== Monitoring the Rift === | |||
Torchwood Three's primary purpose was to monitor the rift in space and time that ran through Cardiff and deal with the "stuff" that it displaced from other timelines and planets. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Meat (TV story)}}) According to Jack Harkness, things that arrived through the Rift included "Creatures, timeshifts, space junk, debris". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) In addition Torchwood helped humans from different eras, that the Rift had displaced forward in time, adapt to their new time zone. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Out of Time (TV story)}}) | |||
While it was obvious that the Rift deposited objects, the Rift also took things in an event known as a negative rift spike. Some humans taken by the Rift were eventually returned to Earth, but they were ravaged by falling through the Rift and incapable of being reintegrated into society. Until the year [[2000]] these returnees were just locked away in the vaults or cryogenically frozen, and ultimately forgotten. When Jack Harkness assumed command of Torchwood, he found two such returnees in the vaults and decided these people should be looked after. He set up a remote facility on the island of [[Flat Holm]], telling its employees that the people he left in their care were the result of failed experiments. Over the years more returnees were found, and the rate at which people returned increased, "as if the Rift is trying to correct its mistakes". By the end of the year the number of people cared for at the facility had reached 17. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Adrift (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Combatting the Doctor === | |||
As with the rest of the Institute, Torchwood Three initially regarded [[the Doctor]] as hostile and sought to combat him. It was due to him mentioning his association with the Doctor that Torchwood initially captured Jack Harkness in [[1899]], only releasing him when he confessed to having no knowledge of the Doctor's current location. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) | |||
Under Jack's leadership in the [[21st century]] this purpose was abandoned, to the extent that the Director of Torchwood One, [[Yvonne Hartman]], recruited [[Barry Jackson]] to watch for the Doctor, as she did not believe Torchwood Three under Jack would report his arrival. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|One Rule (audio story)}}) | |||
In the [[2010s]], the revived Torchwood continued to monitor the Doctor by recruiting [[Tania Bell]] as the address she was a tenant at, [[107 Baker Street]], was known to be visited by the Doctor. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Must-See TV (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Weevil containment === | |||
[[Weevil]]s were a race of [[humanoid]] [[alien]]s which frequently turned up in Cardiff thanks to the Rift. They were first documented by Torchwood in the [[1950s]]; by the 21st century, a population of hundreds existed in the sewers. Though Weevils usually kept to the sewers, avoiding human contact, occasionally one developed a taste for human flesh or otherwise became a nuisance. Weevil control was one of Torchwood's major day-to-day operations, and at any time several Weevils were in storage cells in the lower level of the Hub. For the purpose of catching Weevils Torchwood Three also developed an [[Anti-Weevil spray]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Reverse-engineering technology === | |||
True to the Torchwood motto, "If it's alien, it's ours", Torchwood Three through the years collected and reverse-engineered an impressive amount of alien technology and studying alien artefacts remained central to their operation after Captain Jack took over. He characterised this as "arming the human race for the future". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) | |||
Much of the technology they possessed found use in the day-to-day operations of Torchwood. For example, Torchwood possessed and operated advanced cryogenic technology since at least the [[1900s]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) and in the first decade of the [[21st century]] was capable of utilising alien computer technology to "scan" all available information sources for information. Around the turn of the [[21st century]], the team began experimenting with a [[Resurrection gauntlet]], for questioning deceased crime victims, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) and a [[singularity scalpel]], to easily remove inoperable alien organisms from humans. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Reset (TV story)}}, {{cs|Something Borrowed (TV story)}}) Other alien technologies utlised by Torchwood Three included [[portable prison cell]]s ([[TV]]: {{cs|Day One (TV story)}}) and a [[laser saw]], for discreet surgical purposes. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Keeping a low profile === | |||
Torchwood had to keep not only itself but also the very existence of [[alien]]s from the public. Though greatly facilitated by the human tendency to just ignore everything that was too much out of the ordinary, keeping the secret was still no easy job. Torchwood under Jack Harkness' leadership preferred a more diplomatic approach — contacting clueless [[spaceship]] pilots and telling them that they were "spooking the locals". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Cyberwoman (TV story)}}) Torchwood Three made use of [[Retcon]], a powerful amnesia drug, to wipe the memories of people who encountered aliens. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}, {{cs|Something Borrowed (TV story)}}) | |||
Still, many Cardiff residents, even laymen, seemed to be more or less aware of all the strange things that kept happening, again and again, though often they weren't at all impressed. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (TV story)}}) Many police officers were aware of and quite frustrated by what they often saw as a "regular" secret ops unit disturbing their operations or taking them over entirely. Under the command of Jack Harkness the team developed a very relaxed approach to secrecy, ordering pizzas to their top secret underground lair and having a tendency to stamp large Torchwood logos on their field equipment. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) As a result even the general location of Torchwood's base became fairly common knowledge, with the team acknowledging that locals tended to direct people towards the bay when asked about Torchwood. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Human resources === | |||
Under the leadership of Jack Harkness, Torchwood Three personnel were encouraged to treat their work as a job, not an obsession, with Jack often seen encouraging his colleagues to go home and rest. Maintaining personal relationships outside of the Torchwood team was not discouraged (as long as secrecy was maintained) but this proved difficult, with most Torchwood members turning to fellow team members for companionship (i.e. Jack and Ianto, Owen and Tosh). An exception to this was Gwen Cooper, who maintained a relationship with her husband [[Rhys Williams]], although ultimately Rhys was made aware of Torchwood's existence when he was recruited for one case that dealt with alien [[meat]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Meat (TV story)}}) | |||
Certain protocols were in place when a team member died of any cause. His or her body was to be stored permanently (possibly for future study), and his or her worldly possessions were to be confiscated by Torchwood and held in storage permanently. This is known to be the case with [[Suzie Costello]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}, {{cs|They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)}}) Jack breached these protocols to allow [[Toshiko Sato]] to take [[Sebastian Vaughan]]'s body back to his family home, as per his wishes, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vigil (audio story)}}) and later allowed Tosh to have a proper burial and funeral that [[Toshiko Sato's mother|her mother]] attended. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)}}) | |||
It was possible for Torchwood members to resign, though [[Owen Harper]] believed that they would be required to take a [[retcon]] pill to forget their involvement with the team, willingly or not. ([[TV]]: {{cs|End of Days (TV story)}}) [[Lucia Moretti]] and her [[Alice Carter|daughter]] entered a protection program after Lucia left Torchwood in 1977. She ultimately died of natural causes, which Agent [[Johnson (Children of Earth: Day One)|Johnson]] noted was rare for Torchwood personnel. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Other tasks === | |||
Torchwood was also responsible for monitoring other potential sources of otherworldly trouble in the vicinity of Cardiff. They monitored the local trade in alien artefacts (such as [[Dogon]] sixth eyes) ([[TV]]: {{cs|Random Shoes (TV story)}}) and locals known to be involved in aliens or alien artefacts, such as collector [[Henry Parker]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Day in the Death (TV story)}}) Torchwood also monitored conspiracy theorists such as [[George Wilson (The Conspiracy)|George Wilson]], [[Sam Hallett]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Conspiracy (audio story)}}) and [[Brent Hayden]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood Cardiff continued the practice of [[Corpse Day]]; an annual collaboration with local police where Torchwood would review some of their unsolved cases. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Corpse Day (audio story)}}) | |||
After helping [[Freda]], a half-alien refugee sent back in time to seek asylum, Jack Harkness agreed to create an alien asylum policy for Torchwood Three. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Asylum (audio story)}}) | |||
== History == | |||
=== 19th century === | |||
Torchwood operated in Cardiff from [[1885]] onwards. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Slow Decay (novel)}}) It was founded under the suggestion of [[Agnes Havisham]], who believed that [[the Rift]] posed a threat after its recent activation. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Risk Assessment (novel)}}) | |||
[[File:Alice and Emily find Jack.jpg|thumb|right|[[Emily Holroyd]] and [[Alice Guppy]] in [[1899]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}})]] | |||
By the end of the [[19th century]], [[Emily Holroyd]] was leader of Torchwood Cardiff. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Torchwood: The Encyclopedia (reference book)}}) In [[1898]], she recruited [[Alice Guppy]] as her mission partner after [[Torchwood operative (Diary of Alice Guppy)|her previous operative]] was killed. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Diary of Alice Guppy (short story)}}) | |||
The Torchwood headquarters in Cardiff at that time consisted of little more than a few rooms and a holding cell. They had a policy of executing hostile aliens immediately as they had no way of returning them home. Over a period of more than a year, Emily and Alice monitored Jack Harkness, who made mention of "[[the Doctor]]". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, [[PROSE]]: {{cs|Captain Jack Transcripts (short story)}}) As the Torchwood Institute was founded largely to combat the Doctor, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Tooth and Claw (TV story)}}, {{cs|Army of Ghosts (TV story)}}) the two women captured Jack, discovered his ability to return from the dead and recruited him as a field agent. Despite his dislike of Torchwood's ruthlessness, Jack reluctantly accepted after a [[Little girl (Dead Man Walking)|little girl]] told him he wouldn't meet the Doctor again for over a hundred years, | |||
Jack continued to sporadically work for the Institute until the end of the 20th century, while also undertaking other activities such as fighting in the world wars. Not long after, Torchwood would begin to physically expand into the underground and to build [[the Hub]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) | |||
Around [[1899]], Torchwood infiltrated and destroyed the [[HMS Hades|HMS ''Hades'']] after it was found to be a lab for experimenting on [[alien]]s. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Baby Farmers (short story)}}) | |||
Later in 1899, Jack was temporarily seconded to [[Torchwood One|Torchwood London]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Victorian Age (audio story)}}) He later returned to Cardiff with orders from [[Victoria|Queen Victoria]] to throw [[Last of Erebus|Object 1]] into the Rift. However he neglected to do so, hoping that Object 1 might attract the Doctor. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
=== 20th century === | |||
[[File:Jack, Alice, Charles.jpg|thumb|[[Jack Harkness|Jack]], [[Alice Guppy|Alice]] and [[Charles Gaskell|Charles]] in [[1901]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}})|alt=|left]] | |||
In [[1901]], an older version of Jack Harkness was discovered buried alive below Cardiff, having been left there in [[27]]. In order to prevent a paradox, this older Jack, at his request, was cryogenically frozen, his body kept in storage (unbeknownst to his younger self or later Torchwood staff) until the [[21st century]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) | |||
In [[1914]], after becoming aware of the [[Weevil]]s and Object 1's likely involvement in their creation, Jack finally threw it into the Rift. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
In [[1918]], Torchwood Three, under the command of [[Gerald Kneale]], already had access to sophisticated [[cryogenic]] suspension technology. Kneale and another operative, [[Harriet Derbyshire]], investigated supposed hauntings (in fact [[time shift]]s from the future) at [[St Teilo's Hospital]]. Following instructions from Torchwood from the future, they took shellshocked soldier [[Tommy Brockless]] away from the hospital and put him in cryogenic suspension. Tommy was awoken annually for a single day to check his health. | |||
In [[1919]], Harriet was killed in action. ([[TV]]: {{cs|To the Last Man (TV story)}}) Gerald held himself responsible her death and stepped down as Torchwood leader. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Rift War! (comic story)}}) | |||
In [[1941]], Torchwood Three was led by [[Tilda Brennan]]. She heavily distrusted Jack who was still serving as a freelance agent. In August, Jack brought an alien child, "A. Neil", to the Hub and then took a few days off. During this time Tilda was manipulated by [[Bilis Manger]], exploiting her hatred of Harkness, into following the instructions in File TW3/87/BM . She vivisected "A. Neil", overpowering the rest of the team when they objected. When he returned Jack confronted her in the Vaults and she held a gun to the head of teammate [[Greg Bishop]], who was Jack's lover. [[The Light (The Twilight Streets)|The Light]] briefly possessed her, enabling Jack to shoot her. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Twilight Streets (novel)}}) | |||
The Torchwood team of the [[1950s]] were thought by Jack Harkness to be "rotten apples". They were known to sell alien artefacts in secret auctions until Harkness flooded the market with fakes. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Beauty of Our Weapons (short story)}}) | |||
In [[1967]], a [[KVI]] substation was discovered in Cardiff. [[Kenneth Valentine]] defected from Torchwood and helped the KVI find [[Michael Bellini]]. The [[Vondrax]] attacked the KVI substation and wiped out everyone inside. On the orders of a Captain [[Turner (Trace Memory)|Turner]], [[Lucy (Trace Memory)|Lucy]] and [[Charles Cromwell]] were sent in on a cleanup operation with a group of men. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Trace Memory (novel)}}) | |||
In 1967, a 17-year-old [[Leonardo da Vinci]] got swept up in a Rift storm and ended up deposited in the Torchwood Hub. It took the team a while to work out who he was. The team sent him back using the [[Rift Manipulator]], giving him a [[Rift Key]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Cultural Firsts (short story)}}) | |||
[[Lucia Moretti]] served with Torchwood Three between [[1968]] and [[1977]]. She and Jack were lovers and had a daughter, [[Alice Carter|Melissa]], in [[1975]]. In 1977, Lucia left Torchwood and went into a protection programme with her daughter. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)}}) During the 1970s Torchwood Three struggled with containing the Weevils, leading to Torchwood One lending them assistance. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Tube Strike (audio story)}}) | |||
[[Alex Hopkins]] was head of Torchwood Three in the [[1990s]]. He received an offer to become an agent of [[the Committee]], but he declined. However, the Committee had another agent in the team. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) Jack was working as a field agent at this time. The team included [[Karen Baldwin]], [[James Unsworth]] ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Red Skies (audio story)}}) and [[Ariana (The Torchwood Archive)|Ariana]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
=== 21st century === | |||
==== New Year's Eve massacre ==== | |||
[[File:Jack 1999.jpg|thumb|Jack discovers [[Alex Hopkins]]' massacre of Torchwood Three. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}})]] | |||
On [[31 December|New Year's Eve]] [[1999]], Alex was approached by the [[Little girl (Dead Man Walking)|little girl]] in [[Newport]] after hunting an alien. She gave him Object 1, promising it would reveal who on the team couldn't be trusted. He prepared for Torchwood's New Year's party and opened Object 1 whilst waiting for the others to arrive, tempted by the desire to know who worked for the Committee. He saw visions of the [[21st century]], including the Committee's deals with the [[British government]], [[the 456]] and [[Miracle Day]]. His team arrived and, as a mercy killing, Alex shot them all, Ariana last, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) whilst on the phone to Torchwood One agent [[Yvonne Hartman]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|One Rule (audio story)}}) Jack returned to the Hub to discover the massacre and Alex handed command over to him before shooting himself. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) Alex was added to the [[Red List]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Jack's team ==== | |||
Jack Harkness was left with the job of recruiting a new team and leading it. He decided to reform Torchwood into a more humane organisation, inspired by his admiration of the Doctor. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) As a result, eventual Director of Torchwood One [[Yvonne Hartman]] deemed him not proper Torchwood. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|One Rule (audio story)}}) | |||
Shortly thereafter, Harkness discovered two [[human]]s whom the rift had returned and had been locked away in the Hub's cells, since Torchwood had deemed them unable to reintegrate into society. He founded a facility on the island of Flat Holm to care for them and others who were later returned. Subsequently, he chose not to inform certain members of his staff. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Adrift (TV story)}}) | |||
In the early [[2000s]], Jack headhunted [[Suzie Costello]] and summoned her to Cardiff. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Moving Target (audio story)}}) He arranged [[Toshiko Sato|Toshiko Sato's]] release from a [[UNIT]] prison to return for her joining Torchwood for five years. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) During her first years at Torchwood, Tosh developed Rift equations, which were to be used as guidelines to more safely operate the [[Rift Manipulator]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)}}) Early in her work with Torchwood, Tosh was sent to a psychiatric ward after being seen in public with a gun and warning about aliens. She discovered the ward's staff were exploiting alien squids to reduce the number of patients and tricked them into taking high quantity of drugs so they became more appetising to the aliens than the patients, escaping in the ensuing chaos and contacting Suzie. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Suckers (audio story)}}) | |||
Suzie intercepted an [[Orthopteroid]] which had just arrived from the Rift at [[Penarth Pier]], using [[Emlyn Crook]] to keep its attention there whilst she travelled to the scene with a [[beam emitter]], having to use a taxi as the rest of the team was busy elsewhere. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Bad Connection (audio story)}}) | |||
In [[2004]], Torchwood Three shutdown an [[Ovid Industries|Ovid]] factory in South Wales which had been producing duplicates of the population of a nearby village. Suzie found Object 1 in the factory, which Jack told her to pass on to Torchwood One. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
In March [[2005]], Yvonne Hartman had the Hub placed in a time bubble for a day, freezing the Torchwood Three team, consisting of Jack, Suzie and Tosh, in time so she could recover a [[Drahvin scanner]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|One Rule (audio story)}}) | |||
Jack later hired [[Sebastian Vaughan]], whose recruitment had been arranged by [[Sebastian Vaughan's father|his father]], a [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] [[minister]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vigil (audio story)}}) and employed [[Owen Harper|Dr Owen Harper]] as the team's medical officer after he witnessed the death of his fiancé due to an alien parasite. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) | |||
Suzie took some time off from Torchwood to investigate a black spot off the coast of [[Iceland]], hoping to find the missing [[Torchwood Four]], where she discovered a crashed spaceship. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Last Love Song of Suzie Costello (audio story)}}) | |||
In March [[2006]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Aliens of London (TV story)}}) Tosh filled in for a hungover Owen, on his second week on the job, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) and went to London to examine the [[Space pig|occupant]] of an [[Slitheen craft (Aliens of London)|alien spacecraft]] which had [[London UFO crash|crashed]] in the [[River Thames|Thames]]. Whilst studying it at [[Albion Hospital]] she encountered the [[Ninth Doctor]], who was investigating the crash too. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Aliens of London (TV story)}}) | |||
Later in 2006, Torchwood Three responded to the crash of an Elyrian spaceship, unaware that Suzie had actually caused it. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Sync (audio story)}}) In September, Jack kept the team in lockdown in the Hub to prevent them meeting his past self who was travelling with the Ninth Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Twilight Streets (novel)}}) In November, Suzie became caught up in an alien hunt when her experiments with a alien device prevented her being frozen in time along with the rest of the world. She attempted to help the target, [[Alex (Moving Target)|Alex]], survive the alien hunters but gave up after some days and killed Alex herself to finally end the hunt and unfreeze the world. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Moving Target (audio story)}}) | |||
Whilst Suzie was a member of the team, [[Operation Goldenrod]] occurred. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Slow Decay (novel)}}, {{cs|Another Life (novel)}}) | |||
In [[2007]], after the fall of [[Torchwood One]] at the [[Battle of Canary Wharf]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Doomsday (TV story)}}) Tosh was taken hostage by the [[Dow Cohort]] for their raid of [[the Antebellum (War Chest)|the Antebellum]]. She foiled both their agents and an undercover [[UNIT Black Ops]] agent exploiting the raid. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|War Chest (audio story)}}) [[Ianto Jones]], a survivor of the fallen Torchwood One, began asking to work for Torchwood Three. Jack initially rejected him out of hand, not wanting any ties to the old regime, but eventually accepted him after he helped capture a [[pterodactyl]] which had come through the Rift. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) Ianto's true reason for joining Torchwood Three was in hopes of reversing the partial cyber-conversion of his girlfriend [[Lisa Hallett]], who he transported to and hid in the Hub. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Cyberwoman (TV story)}}) | |||
Torchwood Three began encountering [[Cortex leech|cortex leeches]] which were appearing through the Rift in greater and greater numbers and attacking the homeless population of Cardiff. During this investigation Sebastian was killed by a leech. Jack gave Tosh permission for his body to be returned to [[Rockfell Hall]] per his request, which was against the usual protocol. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vigil (audio story)}}) | |||
[[File:TorchwoodEC.jpg|left|thumb|[[Gwen Cooper]] meets Torchwood Three. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}})]] | |||
At some point in the 2000s,{{note|see [[Aliens of London dating controversy]] for why this cannot be dated more precisely.}} Suzie committed a series of murders with an alien artefact, the [[Life knife]], in order to test out the [[Resurrection gauntlet]]. She committed suicide when her activities were discovered. Jack took in [[Gwen Cooper]], a Cardiff Police Constable who had helped him to solve the case. She was the only member of the team aware of his immortality, having witnessed him resurrect after Suzie had shot him. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) When Gwen joined, she found the team somewhat distrustful of Jack, due to his secrecy. Her first mission with the team concerned [[Sex gas|an alien gas]] which had escaped a meteor and possessed [[Carys Fletcher]]. During the incident Gwen was concerned by the team's attitude towards Carys and attempted to make them care more. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Day One (TV story)}}) Torchwood Three next acquired a [[quantum transducer]] from small-time criminal [[Bernie Harris]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Ghost Machine (TV story)}}) defeated the [[Bruydac]] ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Another Life (novel)}}) and shutdown [[Scotus Clinic]], which had been using [[Alien tapeworm|alien tapeworms]] as a weight-loss treatment. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Slow Decay (novel)}}) | |||
[[File:Countrycide main.jpg|thumb|Jack's team in the [[Brecon Beacons]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Countrycide (TV story)}})]] | |||
The team's trust in Ianto was broken when they were attacked by Lisa, who had been overtaken by Cyberman conditioning. They were eventually forced to kill her, to Ianto's horror. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Cyberwoman (TV story)}}) Afterwards Ianto felt increasingly depressed and lonely and took to going to [[The Ferret]]'' ''to confide in the bar maid, [[Mandy Aibiston|Mandy]], there. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Broken (audio story)}}) The team's trust in Jack was further damaged when he surrendered a child, [[Jasmine Pierce|Jasmine]], to the [[Fairies]] rather than oppose them. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Small Worlds (TV story)}}) Jack and Ianto dealt with an incursion of [[Scorchies]] in the Millennium Centre together and began improving their friendship. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Broken (audio story)}}) Torchwood subsequently resettled [[Sontaran]] Major [[Kreg]] at [[Mumbles Bay Caravan Park]] to prevent him reporting back to his fleet. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Great Sontaran War (audio story)}}) After reports of disappearances on the [[Brecon Beacons]], the team feared the Rift may be expanding. They instead discovered a [[Brynblaidd|village]] of [[Brynblaidd cannibal|cannibals]] in the middle of their harvest which they held every ten years. The team nearly fell victim to the cannibals, however Jack managed to disable the cannibals by firing a shotgun after driving a tractor through a wall. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Countrycide (TV story)}}) The team was traumatised by the experience, with Tosh having nightmares. Ianto considered attempting suicide, the incident having shattered his already fragile mental health, but was saved by the intervention of Mandy. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Broken (audio story)}}) Gwen began an affair with Owen, feeling increasingly disconnected from her boyfriend, [[Rhys Ap Williams|Rhys]], who was unaware of Torchwood's true nature. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Countrycide (TV story)}}) | |||
Not long after the cannibal incident, Tosh was seduced by [[Mary (Arcateenian)|Mary]], an [[Arcateenian]] criminal, who eventually convinced her to let her into the Hub to retrieve her [[Arcateenian transporter|transporter]] which had been recovered in an archaeological dig and seized by Torchwood. Jack had pre-empted her, having noticed Tosh's odd behaviour, and pre-programmed it to take Mary into the Sun. His ruthlessness was another blow to the team's trust in him. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)}}) That night Jack went to investigate disappearances at The Ferret and encountered Ianto. They discovered Mandy was working with an alien slave-driver posing as "[[the Saviour]]" to send people through the Rift. Feeling unable to trust anyone, Ianto left Jack to the Saviour however changed his mind and came to his rescue. Afterwards he confessed his troubles to Jack and they began a relationship. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Broken (audio story)}}) | |||
Tosh investigated [[Simon (Instant Karma)|Simon]]'s therapy group, discovering he was exploiting the member's psychic abilities to fatally attack people who annoyed them, and helped [[Janet (Instant Karma)|Janet]] stand up to him, resulting in Simon's death. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Instant Karma (audio story)}}) | |||
Jack began looking into [[the Committee]] after becoming aware of conspiracy theorist [[George Wilson (The Conspiracy)|George Wilson]] and recognising his theories as actually accurate. [[Kate Wilson|A Committee member]] posing as George's adopted daughter framed Jack for George‘s murder, so he decided to disappear for a while, leaving a recording for the rest of the team. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Conspiracy (audio story)}}) The team began investigating the Committee. Gwen interviewed a conspiracy journalist, [[Madeline (The Torchwood Archive)|Madeline]], who was forced to fatally overdose by a Committee member in her mind, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) and Ianto investigated [[Ephraim Salt]] by infiltrating the ''[[SkyPuncher]]''. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Fall to Earth (audio story)}}) Jack rejoined the team after exposing [[Neil Redmond|Neil Redmond's]] [[NJ|duplicate]], created by Ovid for the Committee. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Uncanny Valley (audio story)}}) Tosh used information gained from that to bargain with the KVI so she could investigate the Pulse in [[Zone 10]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Zone 10 (audio story)}}) | |||
After a grisly triple murder with the killer leaving "Torchwood" as a calling card, the team used the resurrection gauntlet on the victims. During their two minutes of revival, one of the victims revealed their killer, [[Max Tresilian|Max]], and that he had been close to Suzie Costello. They resurrected Suzie only for her to seemingly come back for good. She was actually draining life from Gwen, who had been wielding the gauntlet, and had arranged Max's killings in advance for Torchwood to resurrect her. The team destroyed the gauntlet before the transfer was complete, killing Suzie again and saving Gwen. ([[TV]]: {{cs|They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)}}) | |||
Torchwood Three investigated a series of murders orchestrated by the immortal alchemist [[Thomas Vaughan (Hidden)|Thomas Vaughan]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Hidden (audio story)}}) recovered a [[Dogon]] sixth eye from the body of local alien hunter [[Eugene Jones]] after he was killed in a hit-and-run, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Random Shoes (TV story)}}) and sent Ianto and Owen to [[Hengoed]] to investigate an alien signal. They found a disguised alien living there, [[Pat (The Last Beacon)|Pat]], who was the last of her kind and left her in peace after she turned off the signal. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Last Beacon (audio story)}}) | |||
In [[December]], Torchwood Three tried to help three travellers from the 1950s, who had been displaced in time on the ''[[Sky Gypsy]]'' by the Rift, adjust to life in the 2000s. Ultimately one decided to commit suicide and another took off in the ''Sky Gypsy'' again in hopes of travelling back through the Rift, breaking Owen‘s heart as he'd fallen for her. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Out of Time (TV story)}}) At [[Christmas]], Ianto encountered an entity appearing to be [[Mari Lwyd (The Grey Mare)|Mari Lwyd]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Grey Mare (audio story)}}) A few weeks later, Torchwood Three shut down a Weevil fighting ring. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Combat (TV story)}}) | |||
When Tosh and Jack were transported to [[1941]] Cardiff by the machinations of [[Bilis Manger]], Owen, out of desperation, used the manipulator and Tosh's Rift equations to try and return them, Ianto disagreeing with his attempts and shooting him in the shoulder to try and stop him, however he failed and Owen succeeded. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)}}) Owen's actions would have wide-ranging consequences, as the use of the Manipulator made the Rift splinter and caused temporal shifts to occur all over Cardiff and the [[Earth]]. After a series of visions by Bilis, the team revolted against Jack and decided to open the Rift fully to end the crisis. Jack still refused to yield so Owen shot and killed him. Opening the Rift released the ancient [[demon]] [[Abaddon]], briefly causing havoc in central Cardiff. Jack revived, revealing his immortality to the team, and defeated Abaddon by overloading him with his lifespan. After some weeks, Jack revived and reconciled with the team. ([[TV]]: {{cs|End of Days (TV story)}}) Shortly afterwards, Jack suddenly and without warning left Torchwood, when the [[Tenth Doctor]] came to refuel [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] at the rift and Jack chased him off-world. ([[TV]]: {{cs|End of Days (TV story)}}, {{cs|Utopia (TV story)}}) Under Torchwood guidelines Tosh should have assumed leadership as the second longest serving member, however Gwen became leader after taking charge during an incident where Tosh was unfit to command due to exposure to an alien artefact. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Kaleidoscope (short story)}}) | |||
In Jack's absence, Prime Minister {{Simm|n=Harold Saxon}} sent Torchwood Three on a "wild goose chase" mission away from [[Great Britain]] to the [[Himalayas]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Sound of Drums (TV story)}}) Jack reunited with them after their return to Cardiff, intervening in time to kill a [[Blowfish (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang)|Blowfish]] who had taken hostages. Captain [[Captain John Hart|John]], an old colleague of Jack's, came to Cardiff and embroiled Torchwood Three in a complex scheme. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (TV story)}}) In the following months, the team uncovered and wiped out an [[Cell 114|alien sleeper cell]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Sleeper (TV story)}}, [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Serenity (audio story)}}) awoke Tommy and sent him back through time to resolve the temporal crisis at [[St Teilo's Hospital|St Telio's Hospital]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|To the Last Man (TV story)}}) stopped a [[Water Hag]] reproducing via infections ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Something in the Water (novel)}}) and shutdown [[Harries & Harries]], during which Gwen's husband Rhys became aware of the true nature of her job. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Meat (TV story)}}) Torchwood Three also tried to help [[Michael Bellini]] escape the [[Vondrax]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Trace Memory (novel)}}) resolved a telesensual field being broadcast by a crashed alien spacecraft, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Everyone Says Hello (audio story)}}) were embroiled in the conflict between [[The Light (The Twilight Streets)|the Light]] and [[The Dark (The Twilight Streets)|the Dark]] by Bilis Manger, ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Twilight Streets (novel)}}) stopped [[Patrick Jefferson]] trapping people he deemed sinners in another dimension, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|In the Shadows (audio story)}}) and were briefly infiltrated by [[Adam Smith|Adam]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Adam (TV story)}}) Tosh went to London after being contacted by a Torchwood One survivor, [[Stephen Hines]], about mysterious disappearances and discovered the cause was an alien computer virus. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Torchwood cascade CDRIP.tor (audio story)|torchwood_cascade_CDRIP.tor}}) Ianto led the shut down of [[Oliver (The Office of Never Was)|Oliver Milne's]] business, which was run using brain augmentation technology supplied by the Committee. Torchwood's actions accidentally led to the deaths of all the office's staff. Ianto covered up Torchwood's involvement from the subsequent inquiry and retconned himself to forget it. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Office of Never Was (audio story)}}) | |||
[[UNIT]] medical officer Dr [[Martha Jones]] came in briefly at Jack's request in order to provide support during an investigation of a series of unusual murders, which they connected to experiments with [[Reset]] at [[the Pharm]]. Owen died after being shot by the [[Aaron Copley|Pharm's Director]] during the shut down of the organisation. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Reset (TV story)}}) He was resurrected but without signs of life via a second Resurrection gauntlet, which Jack had assumed would be temporary. This led to a personification of [[Death (Dead Man Walking)|Death]] manifesting through Owen, which he eventually defeated. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Dead Man Walking (TV story)}}) This led to Dr Jones staying with Torchwood somewhat longer than anticipated whilst Owen recovered from his undeath. Owen returned to duty as the only one who could infiltrate alien collector [[Henry Parker]]'s residence, due to him being undead and expelling no heat, to investigate a mysterious energy surge. It transpired the energy surge was simply a harmless alien artefact which was delivering a message. Content Owen was ready to return to work, Martha departed. ([[TV]]: {{cs|A Day in the Death (TV story)}}) | |||
Following Owen's undeath, the team faced creatures being unleashed by [[Gareth Portland]] via [[MonstaQuest]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Pack Animals (novel)}}) killed a pair of [[Nostrovite|Nostrovites]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|Something Borrowed (TV story)}}) stopped a [[Thought-form (SkyPoint)|thought-form]] feeding on residents of [[SkyPoint]], ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|SkyPoint (novel)}}) investigated the [[Church of the Outsiders]] ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Believe (audio story)}}) and stopped the rampage of the [[Night Travellers]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|From Out of the Rain (TV story)}}) Ianto was lured back to Oliver Milne's abandoned office block as Oliver sought his revenge. Ianto tricked Oliver, leaving him trapped on the top floor, and the retconned his memories of the incident again. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Office of Never Was (audio story)}}) | |||
After the Rift started returning more and more humans who had previously been taken away in negative rift spikes, Jack arranged for the victims to continue to be transferred to the Flat Holm facility without telling the rest of the team. With the help of Tosh and discreet tip-off from Ianto, Gwen discovered the facility's existence whilst searching for a [[Jonah Bevan|missing boy]] who it turned out had been taken and then returned, decades older, by the Rift. Jack reluctantly let Gwen take the boy's mother to meet him however she was horrified by the experience and told Gwen not to do it to anyone else. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Adrift (TV story)}}) | |||
After they collaborated on [[Corpse Day]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Corpse Day (audio story)}}) Owen began working with Gwen's former partner PC [[Andy Davidson]] on various investigations, forming an unlikely partnership. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Hope (audio story)}}, {{cs|The Three Monkeys (audio story)}}) [[Caite]], an alien of the [[Threshold (species)|Threshold]], became Andy's girlfriend in an attempt to infiltrate Torchwood to let her people invade through the Rift and ingratiated herself with Owen using her abilities to drain life from other people to revive him briefly, however they pushed it too far and killed an old woman. Owen tried to use Torchwood's resources to cover it up however Andy continued to be suspicious. Eventually Caite convinced Owen to let her connect her transport device to the Rift Manipulator so she could go back in time and prevent the death, however Owen realised what she was truly doing. Andy, who had followed them into the Hub, used her device to send Caite away and ended his friendship with Owen. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Gooseberry (audio story)}}) | |||
[[File:Torchwood grieves.jpg|left|thumb|The three survivors of [[Gray (Fragments)|Gray]]'s attack on Torchwood. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}})]] | |||
Torchwood Three lost two members of the team during [[Gray (Fragments)|Gray's]] vengeful crusade against his brother, Jack. Owen was trapped in a room containing a nuclear meltdown, which decomposed his already dead body, and Tosh died of a shot to the stomach by Gray, who was attempting to stop her guiding Owen in containing the meltdown. Jack finally imprisoned Gray in cryogenic suspension in the Hub. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) | |||
==== A trio ==== | |||
Reduced to just three, Torchwood Three resolved to carry on. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) In the weeks following Owen and Tosh's deaths, Jack served as surrogate parent for the next [[Ruler of the Yalnix]] ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Expectant (audio story)}}) and Martha invited the team to [[CERN]] to investigate a series of disappearances amongst UNIT personnel. The team discovered Dr [[Oliver Harrington|Harrington]] was responsible, having been tricked by an alien entity posing as his dead wife. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Lost Souls (audio story)}}) | |||
[[File:Dalek in Torchwood3 JourneysEnd.jpg|thumb|The [[Dalek]]s break into Torchwood Three. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}}/{{cs|Journey's End (TV story)}})|alt=]] | |||
Torchwood Three was called upon by former [[Prime Minister]] [[Harriet Jones]] via the [[subwave network|sub-wave network]] along with [[Sarah Jane Smith]] and Martha Jones in an effort to contact the Tenth Doctor during the [[Planetary Relocation Incident|Dalek invasion]]. Jack, Gwen and Ianto used the [[Rift Manipulator]] in conjunction with Sarah Jane's supercomputer [[Mr Smith]] to amplify the signal of Martha's [[superphone]] to break the signal barrier and reach the Doctor. Jack left the team behind to assist the Doctor, whilst a Dalek saucer traced the signal to the Torchwood Hub. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The Stolen Earth (TV story)}}) Gwen and Ianto were saved from Dalek extermination by the [[time-lock]] invented by Tosh before she died along with the [[Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor]] blowing up the Dalek fleet's [[dalekanium]] casings on the [[Crucible]]. The two were later called upon by the Doctor himself to help assist his [[TARDIS]] via Rift Manipulator in its effort to move the Earth back to its regular orbit. Afterwards Jack returned to the team. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Journey's End (TV story)}}) | |||
Together the trio stopped an alien swarm which fed on human guilt, having to sacrifice the ''[[Sea Queen]]'' in the process, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Sin Eaters (audio story)}}) helped a half-alien [[Freda|asylum seeker]] sent back in time by Torchwood from [[2069]] ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Asylum (audio story)}}) and investigated an alien energy field, which they traced to [[Delhi]]. There they discovered that [[Torchwood India]] was still active, led by [[Eleanor (Golden Age)|the Duchess]], having been in a time store since Jack shut them down in [[1926]]. They foiled their plan to turn Earth back to 1926, freezing Torchwood India in time. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Golden Age (audio story)}}) Back in Cardiff, the team investigated a series of phone calls putting those who answered in comas ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Dead Line (audio story)}}) and discovered the [[Department of Curiosities]] at the same time as rival institution [[Firestone Finance]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Department X (audio story)}}) | |||
After helping repair a [[Keranium]] spacecraft, Torchwood Three faced the outbreak of the [[Good Thinking]] virus in Cardiff. Whilst Jack was infected in the Hub, Ianto used soft light projection to contact [[Norton Folgate]] for information on the original outbreak in the 1950s. After he died, Jack was collected by [[Heights Pharmaceuticals]] and taken to the [[Emergency Response Centre]], being followed by Ianto. They discovered Heights had leaked the virus accidentally and were now vaccinating with [[Provictus]], an improved variant of the virus capable of uploading people's thoughts to a Data Core. Jack activated a trojan horse in his data, which had been uploaded to the Date Core when he died of Good Thinking, to shut down Provictus whilst Gwen helped distribute a true cure developed from his blood. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Outbreak (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood Three responded to the scene of a spaceship crash at the same time as UNIT and found a dead body that UNIT had missed. Gwen took it to a UNIT [[victim-retrieval station]] in [[Hereford]] for Martha to autopsy, whilst Jack and Ianto found chamelon technology at the crash site. Gwen and Martha discovered the corpse was actually a live [[Chameleon (Dissected)|chameleon]] and destroyed the base to stop it. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Dissected (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood Three investigated [[Joanna Carew]]‘s remarkable recovery and discovered she had been helped by an alien entity, [[Fitzroy (The Devil and Miss Carew)|Fitzroy]]. They stopped her disabling human technology with a virus to allow Fitzroy to arrive on Earth. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Devil and Miss Carew (audio story)}}) Torchwood pursued an alien with a [[plasma cannon]] on the [[Severn Bridge]]. Jack shooting him caused a massive hole in both the alien and the bridge, causing the [[Torchwood SUV|SUV]] to fall underwater where Torchwood heard a [[Parasite (Submission)|parasite]]'s call. They traced the call to the [[Mariana Trench]] and collaborated with UNIT to investigate, being supplied with the ''[[USS Calvin]]'' and ''[[Octopus Rock]]'' and accompanied by [[Carlie Roberts]]. They discovered the source was an alien parasite seeking a new host and killed it. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Submission (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Destruction ==== | |||
[[File:1j.jpg|thumb|Torchwood Three in ruins. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Two (TV story)}})|alt=|left]] | |||
In [[September]] [[2009]], Torchwood Three was targeted by Agent [[Johnson (Children of Earth: Day One)|Johnson]]'s team on behalf of the [[British government]] to stop them exposing Britain's past dealings with [[the 456]] after they returned to Earth. Using [[Rupesh Patanjali]] as a lure, Johnson's team inserted a bomb into Jack's abdomen. When it detonated the Hub was destroyed, as the government had believed that Jack's [[immortality]] was tied to the Hub, whilst Jack himself was blown apart. [[Gwen Cooper|Gwen]] and [[Ianto Jones|Ianto]] escaped, avoiding snipers waiting by the Hub. The explosion was reported on the news and it left a gaping hole where the Hub was. Jack's remains were retrieved by Johnson's team and she decided to entomb him in concrete after his body pieced itself back together. Ianto, Gwen and Rhys managed to rescue him and the team made their way to London. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)}}, {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Two (TV story)}}) | |||
Despite the destruction of the Hub, the surviving members of the team continued to operate in an abandoned Torchwood One holding facility, aided by the fact that some of Torchwood's software survived on the server which was not destroyed with the Hub. With the help of [[Lois Habiba]], they recorded Cabinet meetings discussing how to meet the 456's demands for 10% of each country's children and blackmailed the government into allowing Jack and Ianto to confront the [[456 ambassador]] in [[Thames House]]. The ambassador rejected their threats and unleashed a [[The 456 virus|virus]], which killed everyone in the building including Ianto. When he revived, Jack surrendered to the government and told Gwen to go to Ianto's family, to tell them what had happened and protect their children. He was rescued by Johnson, who had turned against the government after seeing the recordings, and worked with her to kill the ambassador at the cost his own [[Steven Carter|grandson]]'s life. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)}}, {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)}}, {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)}}) After the crisis the [[456 Regulation]] was enacted, declaring Jack and Gwen officially deceased. ([[TV]]: {{cs|The New World (TV story)}}) | |||
In October, the ruins of the Hub were excavated and the technology within became choice pickings for various agencies. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Long Time Dead (novel)}}) British billionaire [[Joshua Naismith]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}) Italian-American billionaire [[Angelo Colasanto]], ([[TV]]: {{cs|End of the Road (TV story)}}) and the British government all successfully pilfered its ruins for alien artefacts. During the excavation, a piece of alien technology revived Suzie for a second time. She began a murder spree, with Jack calling her to warn her that he was coming for her. Ultimately she was tracked down to the ruins of the Hub by PC [[Tom Cutler]] and they died together in a bomb explosion. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Long Time Dead (novel)}}) Due to the recession, the British government would later sell many of the relics salvaged from Torchwood Three at high prices internationally. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Men Who Sold the World (novel)}}) | |||
==== Interregnum ==== | |||
In the interregnum period following the 456 incident, a time in which Torchwood was described as fallen, ([[TV]]: {{cs|The End of Time (TV story)}}) former Time Agent [[John Hart]] teamed up with Gwen's husband Rhys to travel back in time roughly a year, in lieu of Jack and Gwen. ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|Shrouded (comic story)}}) Six months after the fall of Torchwood Three, having travelled the world, ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)}}) Jack returned to Cardiff and sealed the Rift by destroying [[The House of the Dead]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The House of the Dead (audio story)}}) He met up with Gwen who gave him his salvaged vortex manipulator, enabling him to leave Earth. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)}}) | |||
In [[2011]], Jack and Gwen reunited and began operations as [[Torchwood (team)|an informal team]] still using the name "Torchwood", working to stop the event known as [[Miracle Day|the Miracle]], when people all over the world stopped dying. Other members of this unofficial team included CIA agents [[Rex Matheson]] and [[Esther Drummond]], doctor [[Vera Juarez]] and Gwen's husband [[Rhys Williams]]. After the event's resolution, at the cost of Vera and Esther's lives, Gwen asked Jack if he intended to restart Torchwood ([[TV]]: ''[[Series 4 (Torchwood)|Miracle Day]]'') however the team ultimately disbanded with Rex returning to the CIA, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Army of One (audio story)}}) and Jack leaving Earth for on a holiday away from humanity. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Red Skies (audio story)}}) | |||
Whilst in [[Washington DC]] shortly after the Miracle, Gwen and Rhys encountered an alien cuckoo ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Army of One (audio story)}}) and Jack later returned to Cardiff to help investigate Mr Invincible. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Mr Invincible (audio story)}}) He returned to Earth again in [[2012]], working with Gwen and Rhys to combat the [[Helix Intelligence]]. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|Exodus Code (novel)}}) In absence of the team, [[Andy Davidson]] decided to do what he could to investigate the "weird stuff" still happening. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Cadoc Point (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Return ==== | |||
Four years after the Miracle, after helping Jack stop the [[The Evolved|Evolved]] experiment at [[Bryn Offa Nursing Home]], Gwen and Rhys decided to officially restart Torchwood. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Forgotten Lives (audio story)}}) To help fund the new Torchwood, Gwen took a job as an independent witness at a fracking site in [[Glynteg]]. She discovered the drilling had unwittingly unleashed an alien infection and neutralised it. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Smashed (audio story)}}) | |||
[[File:Gwen goes to Talmouth.jpg|thumb|Gwen Cooper, leader of the revived Torchwood Three, ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|World Without End (comic story)}}) investigating [[Talmouth]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Made You Look (audio story)}})|alt=]] | |||
Gwen became the acting head of Torchwood Cardiff, ([[COMIC]]: {{cs|World Without End (comic story)}}) and by [[2017]] Torchwood had officially returned, having to deal with temporary holes in [[space]] [[time]] which brought through new [[alien]] phenomena in Cardiff despite the apparent closing of the Rift years prior, which they weren't sure was a sign of the Rift reopening or simply the position in Cardiff being vulnerable. At this point, Gwen, who dealt with most of these incursions with assistance from PC [[Andy Davidson]] while Rhys looked after their daughter [[Anwen Williams|Anwen]], approached [[Roger Pugh]], Planning Officer for [[Cardiff City Council]], in order to establish a new Torchwood Cardiff facility which would replace the long-gone Hub. After Gwen showed Roger a day of her work first hand, he gave her his support. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|More Than This (audio story)}}) Gwen investigated [[Talmouth]] after the town went quiet for some time and discovered an [[Darkness (Made You Look)|alien entity]] had decimated the town, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Made You Look (audio story)}}) was targeted by another alien [[Entity (We Always Get Out Alive)|entity]] whilst with Rhys ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|We Always Get Out Alive (audio story)}}) and encountered the [[Fendahl]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Night of the Fendahl (audio story)}}) Gwen had Rhys place his mother [[Brenda Williams|Brenda]] undercover in a care home to investigate the new Sonny robots being tested there. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Sonny (audio story)}}) | |||
Jack Harkness returned to his old role as leader and a civil servant, [[St John Colchester]] was assigned to the team to assist with Torchwood's reestablishment. The team moved back into the ruins of the Hub and took to using a Smart Car. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Changes Everything (audio story)}}) Torchwood recruited [[Tania Bell]], a tenant in [[107 Baker Street]], to keep an eye out for [[the Doctor]] as he was known to visit the address. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Must-See TV (audio story)}}) | |||
After government funding for Torchwood's reestablishment was cut following a report that stated the Rift was no longer a threat Torchwood was left struggling for resources, even having to leach power from a nearby fusion restaurant. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Changes Everything (audio story)}}) At some point Gwen was secretly possessed by [[Ng]], who continued in her job at Torchwood. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy (audio story)}}) Torchwood defeated an artificial intelligence which sentient algorithm [[Friend (Aliens Next Door)|Friend]] had placed inside adverts and were aware that something was behind it, however became distracted. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|How I Conquered the World (audio story)}}) | |||
====Sorvix occupation==== | |||
[[File: Aliens Amoong us 1 Textless.jpg|thumb|left|Torchwood Three and allies during the [[Sorvix]] occupation of Cardiff. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Aliens Among Us 1]]'')]] | |||
With tensions in Cardiff rising due to an increase in hate crimes, Torchwood began investigating [[3Sol]] and rescued disgraced journalist [[Tyler Steele]] from falling victim of a bomb whilst he was looking into them. Torchwood considered recruiting him, however his reckless actions when he went to confront [[Vorsun]] at 3Sol led to innocent deaths. After killing Vorsun, proving she was an alien, Jack turned down Tyler. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Changes Everything (audio story)}}) Taking advantage of an alien hen night, Ng and Colchester learnt details of the aliens discreetly taking over Cardiff, the [[Sorvix]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood dealt with many problems created by the Sorvix's presence, including helping a former slave of theirs, [[Orr]], who joined the team, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Orr (audio story)}}) investigating a Sorvix run [[Cardiff Bay Intelligent Hotel and Spa|hotel exclusively for aliens]] that was killing its guests, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Superiority Complex (audio story)}}) and an outbreak of an [[Parasite (Love Rat)|alien parasite]] that had come through the Rift with them. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Love Rat (audio story)}}) Around this time, Jack investigated [[Proper Grub]] with [[Jo Jones]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Green Life (audio story)}}) and Mr Colchester faced [[Bilis Manger]], whose manipulation of the residents of [[Ritz Tower]] put [[Colin Colchester-Price|his husband]] in danger. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Kill to a View (audio story)}}) Jack and Orr attended a speech by conspiracy theorist [[Brent Hayden]], who went on to irritate Mr Colchester by bumping into him regularly. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood (audio story)}}) | |||
Jack spent a number of weeks away from Torchwood, making contact with the [[Red Doors]] terrorists. Whilst he was away Torchwood investigated [[Andy Davidson]]'s murder of a refugee, discovering the Sorvix had implanted [[quantum splice]]s in police officers to manipulate them to discredit the police force. Confronting Ro-Jedda, Ng threatened to expose this plan publicly however Jack interrupted and overrode her, believing this would causd chaos, reaching a compromise with Ro-Jedda to enable her to install 3Sol in policing, as she'd intended, without bloodshed. His actions and absence led to the team angrily confronting him in the Hub, prompting [[Yvonne Hartman (Pete's World)|Yvonne Hartman]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Empty Hand (audio story)}}) from a [[Pete's World|parallel universe]], to reveal herself. Framing Jack as a terrorist by exposing his dealings with Red Doors, she took over Torchwood and told him to put Red Doors to better use. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Poker Face (audio story)}}) Under her leadership, Torchwood dealt with [[the Meme]] which was inspiring acts of violence in Cardiff, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Tagged (audio story)}}) and an [[Escape Room]] run by a [[Escape (Escape Room)|Sorvix]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Escape Room (audio story)}}) | |||
After they bombed the airport, Torchwood moved against Red Doors, with Orr working with Jack and Inspector [[Bernstein (Herald of the Dawn)|Bernstein]] whilst Yvonne directed 3Sol's operations, having made an agreement to collaborate with Ro-Jedda for the benefit of the country. The Rift began opening, despite Mr Colchester's efforts to control it with the Manipulator, as the Hub was attacked by a Sorvix [[Assassin (Herald of the Dawn)|assassin]] purusing Tyler Steele, with Colchester being shot. Ng intervened in time to kill the assassin and frantically demanded the Rift be closed, but was stopped by Jack and Orr who had returned after Andy confirmed Jack's suspicions about Gwen. The briefly opened Rift split Gwen and Ng. Whilst Tyler and Orr took Colchester to the hospital, Gwen awoke and decided to leave Torchwood to start a new life after her ordeal. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Herald of the Dawn (audio story)}}) Mr Colchester succumbed to his injuries. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Future Pain (audio story)}}) | |||
After the City Hall was bombed and the Rift opened heralding the arrival of God, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Herald of the Dawn (audio story)}}) Yvonne had Ro-Jedda imprisoned in the Hub and put Ng in the cell next door to pump her information. Whilst the rest of the team attended Mr Colchester's funeral, combating a [[Plasmic psychovore]] which had followed them there, Yvonne discovered the Sorvix had fled Cardiff. Orr persuaded Jack to rejoin Torchwood, due to their distrust of Yvonne's motives. Yvonne subsequently released Ng and killed Ro-Jedda. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Future Pain (audio story)}}) Ng was allowed to join Torchwood. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Hostile Environment (audio story)}}) | |||
====God in Cardiff==== | |||
[[File: Torchwood GAU1.JPG|thumb|right|The Torchwood Three team led by [[Yvonne Hartman (Pete's World)|a parallel universe version of Yvonne Hartman]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[God Among Us 1]]'')]] | |||
With the Sorvix God on the loose in the city, Torchwood faced a [[Predator (See No Evil)|predator]] hunting in a complete blackout placed on the city, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|See No Evil (audio story)}}) and the [[Night Sun]]. During the Night Sun's influence Colchester resurfaced, having been resurrected, and Orr was recruited by God to collect the [[Light (Night Watch)|Light]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Night Watch (audio story)}}) Orr was then chosen a true believer by God, who made them a conduit for their power, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)}}) disappearing from Torchwood. | |||
Yvonne decided to use the [[pharadyne projector]] on a recruitment drive, aiming to bring back [[Ianto Jones]], however [[Norton Folgate]] appeared instead. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Night Watch (audio story)}}) After working with Yvonne and Andy Davidson to retrieve the [[Lens]] from [[Flight 405]], Norton joined the team, claiming he was needed as the end of the world was near. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Flight 405 (audio story)}}) Torchwood subsequently dealt with alien mold in the reservoir and [[Tyler Steele]] forced Colchester and Ng to help him stop [[Oblation]], which was targeting Cardiff's homeless for experiments using leftover Sorvix technology, after which Jack let him live in the Hub. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Hostile Environment (audio story)}}) | |||
[[File:Yvonne and Andy.JPG|thumb|left|[[Yvonne Hartman (Pete's World)|Yvonne Hartman]] and [[Andy Davidson]] whilst in each others' bodies due to [[God (Future Pain)|God]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Another Man's Shoes (audio story)}})]] | |||
Yvonne and Norton both worked for [[the Committee]], with Norton believing they would help Torchwood control the Rift for good using the [[Sorvix power plant]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Eye of the Storm (audio story)}}) As the Committee's plan progressed, God tested the Torchwood team using [[The Evolved|Evolved]] body-swapping technology she'd stolen. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Another Man's Shoes (audio story)}}) When the Sorvix power plant was discovered Yvonne and Norton carried out the Committee's plan, with Norton leading Jack, Ng and Colchester to the power plant only to betray them whilst Yvonne commanded from the Hub. Realising the Committee's plan would actually destroy the world, Norton stopped it with the discreet aid of God, trapping homself back aboard Flight 405 in the process, however in doing so God caused a tsunami as balance. Unaware the Committee had planned this, Yvonne initially refused to act due to her orders but Tyler persuaded her to raise the alarm in Cardiff and open the Rift as much as possible to absorb the tidal wave. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Eye of the Storm (audio story)}}) The tsunami resulted in severe damage to Cardiff with the Committee using the [[Disaster Recovery Committee]] to take control of the city in the aftermath. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Mother's Son (audio story)}}) Andy Davidson became its director, though was secretly loyal to Jack. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)}}) The Disaster Recovery Committee's inquiry pinned the blame on Torchwood after Yvonne's attempts to use Retcon to cover up their involvement failed. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Mother's Son (audio story)}}) Jack allowed this to happen, believing Torchwood should be buried. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood was publicly derided as a result and the DRC locked them out of the Hub. During this time Ng and Colchester investigated [[ScrapeJane]], an urban myth that had become real due to God's presence. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|ScrapeJane (audio story)}}) When Cardiff ran out of clean drinking water, Torchwood attempted to defuse the escalating situation at [[Ritz Tower]] after Orr was discovered there producing water. Their efforts failed, with Jack being shot dead and Yvonne placed under house arrest. Orr disappeared again, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Day Zero (audio story)}}) but was found by Ng and Colchester, as the competing thoughts and prayers of humanity caused God's energy within them to began to destroy Earth. | |||
Jack revived and took God to the Hub as Tyler helped Yvonne reach the facility, where they discovered the Committee had setup a [[dimension bridge]] to [[Erebus]]. Andy brought Orr, Colchester and Ng to the Hub just as the Committee's final form began to arrive. Telling the others to leave, Yvonne used the Lens to redirect Orr's energy through the Rift, destroying the Committee and saving the world. Jack then rescued Yvonne and Orr from the collapsing Hub using the invisible lift. | |||
Andy warned the team that Torchwood was being blamed for the recent disasters by the government and surviving Committee members were seeking revenge, so Jack, Ng, Orr, Tyler and Colchester fled the city. Yvonne stayed behind, forcing Andy to arrest her. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)}}) Torchwood was shut down again following this incident, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Dead Time (audio story)}}) and Yvonne was tried in secret and then imprisoned at [[HMP Whitcastle]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)}}) In [[2020]], the [[Thirteenth Doctor]] was aware that Torchwood, along with UNIT, were both "gone". ([[TV]]: {{cs|Spyfall (TV story)}}) | |||
==== Split up ==== | |||
The team split up, losing contact with Jack entirely. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Aliens Next Door (audio story)}}) From her imprisonment, Yvonne continued to discreetly control Torchwood by using a temp agency to direct the scattered members on missions. The team were unaware who they truly working for. Yvonne began to suspect another force acting in the same shadows as them, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pariahs (audio story)}}) which was the sentient algorithm [[Friend (Aliens Next Door)|Friend]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|How I Conquered the World (audio story)}}) | |||
Mr Colchester averted an invasion by the [[Savash]] in [[Newport]] by using the news to convince their leader Earth wasn't worth invading. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Postcard from Mr Colchester (audio story)}}) | |||
At Yvonne's direction, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pariahs (audio story)}}) whilst in hiding Ng took Orr on a mission to investigate a cul-de-sac she suspected was part of an experiment, in part also to determine how God's abilities had affected Orr. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Aliens Next Door (audio story)}}) Mr Colchester continued missions in secret, including meeting arms dealers in [[Australia]], and eventually returned to Cardiff to rescue his husband [[Colin Colchester-Price]] from a mysterious organisation interrogating Colin and manipulating events to make his life miserable. He then helped Colin go into hiding. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Colin Alone (audio story)}}) Hoping to bring the team back together, Ng travelled to [[Iceland]] to meet Gwen and Rhys and ask if they could contact Jack, which they couldn't. After helping Ng confront the cosmic force she'd once made a deal with that was now seeking her, and seeing how much Ng had changed in the process, Gwen did supply money to an emergency Torchwood bank account. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Misty Eyes (audio story)}}) | |||
In the [[alternate timeline|alternate]] 2020 resulting from the [[Eighth Doctor]]'s [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] crash landing, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Crossed Lines (audio story)}}) Andy Davidson went to London to meet [[Tania Bell]] at [[107 Baker Street]] after she'd reported the Eighth Doctor was now living in the property. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Must-See TV (audio story)}}) Andy and Tania went with the Doctor and his companions [[Liv Chenka]] and [[Helen Sinclair]] on the first flight in the recovering TARDIS, during which Andy finally confessed to Tania that Torchwood had been shut down months ago after the incident in the bay. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Dead Time (audio story)}}) They continued to assist the Doctor as he investigated Earth's future timeline being altered, now resulting in humanity being ruled by [[Divine Intervention]] until a premature extinction. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Long Way Round (audio story)}}, {{cs|Patience (audio story)}}, {{cs|Twisted Folklore (audio story)}}, {{cs|Snow (audio story)}}) On one such investigation to the future Andy was trapped on a spaceship, which was stuck on course with a space station's reactor, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|What Just Happened? (audio story)}}) however he was saved through the aid of the Doctor, [[Robin Bright-Thompson|Mr Bird]] and Helen. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Get Andy (audio story)}}) After the Doctor's scheme to alter history to change the future went awry and dissolved the entire alternate timeline, Andy and Tania helped reset the timeline, restoring the true 2020 in doing so. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Keys of Baker Street (audio story)}}) | |||
In the true 2020, Andy and Tania retained memories of the alternate year and continued to assist the Doctor and his companions live in Baker Street through the [[COVID-19]] pandemic, as they could not leave until the end of the year for fear of destabilising the timeline. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Best Year Ever (audio story)}}) Sometime after the virus, Mr Colchester was lured into a trap by [[the Unity]] under the guise of an appeal for Torchwood's aid by a foreign government, which he escaped with the aid of [[A Charitable Earth]]'s CEO [[Dorothy McShane]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Red List (audio story)}}) Tyler worked with Colchester to monitor threats to journalist [[Petra Malik]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Moderation (audio story)}}) Orr investigated [[Voloshnik]] where something had seemingly killed all but one person in the city, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Propaganda (audio story)}}) and Tania's contacts alerted her to disappearances centring on [[Flatpack]]. She took Liv there to investigate where they encountered the [[Ninth Doctor]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Flatpack (audio story)}}) Tyler helped Yvonne escape HMP Whitcastle as per [[emergency plan 22]], which she'd hinted at to him via hand signals at her trial, through using [[block transfer computation]]s and manipulating Andy. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)}}) | |||
In the team's absence, the abandoned Hub was infiltrated by [[Bilis Manger]]. Three urban explorers explored the site at the same time and one of them, [[Vijay Meghani]], was recruited by the [[Torchwood emergency hologram]] in an attempt to stop Bilis stealing Torchwood technology, which Bilis instead destroyed by flooding the building with [[Rift scar energy]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Cuckoo (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Combating Friend ==== | |||
At Yvonne's direction, Ng, Colchester, Orr and Tyler worked together to ensure the inquiry into [[Phlobos]] succeeded by getting two key witnesses safely to the inquiry, exposing that their data had been used to create a nano weapon capable of targeting individuals' DNA. However the weapon then activated, having been carried in one witnesses, killing everyone in the inquiry room except Torchwood. As armed police who had been pursuing them closed in, the team realised they'd been set up. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Pariahs (audio story)}}) In that moment sentient algorithm [[Friend (Aliens Next Door)|Friend]] psychically broadcast to the team, explaining its role in manipulating recent events, in what Orr viewed as bragging. Yvonne then rescued them in a tank and they made their way back to Cardiff, setting up base in Yvonne's temp agency, [[Temporary Solutions]], at the bay. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|How I Conquered the World (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood prevented an inter-dimensional alien takeover of [[A Charitable Earth]], with Colchester personally protecting [[Dorothy McShane]] from the aliens' attempts to assassinate her in [[Venice]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Death in Venice (audio story)}}) | |||
Ng, Orr, Colchester and Tyler investigated a series of influencer deaths, discovering they were connected by an app, [[PeopleFluid]], run entirely virtually. In their attempt to investigate they caused the death of an influencer, [[Chris (Doomscroll)|Chris]], who Tyler had grown close to. After his death Friend revealed they were responsible for PeopleFluid and Colchester saw to the app's removal by using Chris' persona to start a campaign to give it one-star reviews. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Doomscroll (audio story)}}) | |||
Talking Tyler back into the fold, Yvonne had the team carry out an heist on [[Deadcoin]]'s headquarters in [[Caracassonne]] to prevent an auction of Friend's DNA weapon. In truth the heist was feint to distract Friend so Torchwood's [[Icelandic Tourism Information Centre|Icelandic counterparts]], whom Yvonne knew were looking to one-up Torchwood as part of a takeover bid and were also looking into Deadcoin, could steal the crypto-currency's servers in Iceland. This provoked Friend into beginning its endgame, as Yvonne had intended. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Heistland (audio story)}}) | |||
Torchwood foiled Friend's plan to broadcast a kill signal to activate the weapon on [[Janet's Late Teatime]] by hacking the show the night before, promising the apocalypse at the following programme, and then manipulating [[Janet (The Apocalypse Starts at 6PM)|Janet]] to create panic and anger aimed at phones and internet infrastructure. This resulted in the show's internet broadcast breaking down at the moment of activation and Friend losing its connection to its host body. Though Torchwood believed Friend defeated, it managed to upload itself to a back-up host. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Apocalypse Starts at 6 PM (audio story)}}) | |||
With Torchwood in need of money, Colchester took a job as a security consultant for mining company [[Vultura]], whose operations in [[India]] were being sabotaged, as he also suspected they were drilling into an alien toxic waste dump. With his suspicions confirmed, he helped Dorothy McShane blow up the facility. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Sabotage (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Operations in the 2020s ==== | |||
In [[2023]], Tyler sent [[Rani Chandra]] a tip off about [[The Witching Tree]] restaurant. Realising from detections of aliens whilst calling her that Rani had been setup, Tyler called in [[Clyde Langer]] and rushed to the restaurant where he helped her and Clyde halt an alien invasion brought about by the tree and [[Phoenix Laight]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Witching Tree (audio story)}}) | |||
Andy carried out missions for Torchwood, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Red Base (audio story)}}, {{cs|The Restoration of Catherine (audio story)}}) including travelling to the [[1950s]] by [[vortex manipulator]] to correct an anomaly detected by the Torchwood computer. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Parasite (audio story)}}) | |||
Yvonne took the lead in the crisis caused by the release of a [[photon cloud]] from a [[Quarshi]] spaceship the government had shot down in [[Middlesbrough]], in the process incapacitating a number of people in government and media who were in her way. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough (audio story)}}) | |||
At [[Christmas]] Mr Colchester sent a warning about the [[Appledores]]’ round robin Christmas card, as it was actually a telepathic alien weapon. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|A Christmas Card from Mr Colchester (audio story)}}) | |||
==== Late 21st century ==== | |||
According to [[Bilis Manger]], who claimed to be able to foresee future threats of humanity, years after the 2020s Torchwood would face a [[Gelth]] invasion and the [[chimes of death]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Cuckoo (audio story)}}) | |||
By the [[2060s]], Torchwood had become more accepting of aliens, attempting to protect them instead of just stop them. They were also able to control [[Cardiff Space-Time Rift|the Rift]] to an extent. In [[2069]], when [[Freda]]'s house was destroyed by anti-alien groups, a member of Torchwood was able to save her and sent her back in time to [[2009]], trying to cause the development of Torchwood's alien policy. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Asylum (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Undated === | |||
Torchwood investigated [[Llandyth]] after the village's population disappeared for three days, discovering alien cataloguers had abducted them for studies as they had periodically for centuries. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Widdershins (audio story)}}) | |||
== Crew == | |||
{{section cleanup|Sources need to be provided to paragraphs.}} | |||
=== Emily Holroyd's team === | |||
[[Emily Holroyd]] led a team from [[1897]]-[[1901]]. She burned one unknown agent, who later succumbed to a mutative infection and became new queen of a snake-like race. Known members included [[Alice Guppy]], (active circa [[1899]]-[[1901]]) [[Charles Gaskell]], (active circa [[1899]]-[[1901]]) and [[Jack Harkness]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}, {{cs|Exit Wounds (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Gerald Kneale's team === | |||
[[Gerald Kneale]] led his team from [[1907]]-[[1919]]. [[Physicist]] [[Harriet Derbyshire]] was a member from [[1918]] to [[1919]] until she was killed in active service. [[Douglas Caldwell]] was on the team from [[1914]] to [[1930]]. [[Secretary]] [[Lydia Childs]] was active from [[1918]] to [[1941]], later dying in [[1941]], before [[August]]. [[Charles Quinn (To the Last Man)|Charles Quinn]] was a member between [[1939]] and [[1945]], killed in a [[World War II]] air raid. ([[TV]]: {{cs|To the Last Man (TV story)}}) [[Jack Harkness]] remained on the team as a freelance agent. ([[TV]]: {{cs|From Out of the Rain (TV story)}}, {{cs|Immortal Sins (TV story)}}, {{cs|Small Worlds (TV story)}}) | |||
=== Tilda Brennan's team === | |||
[[Tilda Brennan]], the new leader was active during [[1941]]. She was killed by [[Jack Harkness]], who shot her. Members included [[Greg Bishop]], [[Llinos King]], [[Rhydian]] and [[Jack Harkness]], as a freelance agent. ([[PROSE]]: {{cs|The Twilight Streets (novel)}}) | |||
=== Alex Hopkins' team === | |||
[[Alex Hopkins]] led his team prior [[31 December|New Year's Eve]] [[1999]]. He later killed members [[Karen Baldwin]], [[James Unsworth]], [[Ariana (The Torchwood Archive)|Ariana]] and the others after opening [[Last of Erebus|Object 1]]. Only Jack Harkness remained given his immortality. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}; [[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Red Skies (audio story)}}, {{cs|The Torchwood Archive (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Jack Harkness' team === | |||
Jack Harkness made and led a new team throughout the 2000s. Members consisted of weapons expert and former second-in-command [[Suzie Costello]], technological genius [[Toshiko Sato]], action enthusiast [[Sebastian Vaughan]], ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vigil (audio story)}}) [[doctor]] [[Owen Harper]], factotum [[Ianto Jones]] and police liaison, field agent and ''de facto'' second-in-command [[Gwen Cooper]]. ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}} etc.) | |||
Whilst Jack headhunted Suzie, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Moving Target (audio story)}}) Tosh and Owen, Ianto ([[TV]]: {{cs|Fragments (TV story)}}) and Gwen ([[TV]]: {{cs|Everything Changes (TV story)}}) approached him themselves whilst Sebastian's hiring was arranged by [[Sebastian Vaughan's father|his father]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|The Vigil (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Gwen Cooper's team === | |||
[[Gwen Cooper]], as acting director, restarted Torchwood Three in [[2016]]. At this time the team consisted solely of herself and [[Rhys Williams]]. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|More Than This (audio story)}}, {{cs|Made You Look (audio story)}}) However by [[2017]], Jack Harkness had returned to the team in a leadership capacity and civil servant [[St John Colchester|Mr Colchester]] was appointed to oversee the restoration of the Hub. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Changes Everything (audio story)}}) At some point, Gwen was possessed by an alien known as [[Ng]] ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Herald of the Dawn (audio story)}}) and [[sexual psychomorph]] [[Orr]] joined the team not long after. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Orr (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Yvonne Hartman's team === | |||
Jack Harkness was deposed by [[Yvonne Hartman (Pete's World)|Yvonne Hartman]] after the rest of Torchwood became dismayed by his secretiveness. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Poker Face (audio story)}}) Yvonne's team consisted of herself, Mr Colchester, Orr, [[Ng]] and later Jack himself. They were later briefly joined by [[Norton Folgate]] while [[Orr]] disappeared for a while. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Flight 405 (audio story)}}) [[Tyler Steele]] finally joined the team in an official capacity after being offered a place to live in the Hub by Yvonne. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Hostile Environment (audio story)}}) By [[2020]], [[Tania Bell]] was also a member of Torchwood Three, while [[Andy Davidson]] continued to work closely with the group. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Must-See TV (audio story)}}) | |||
With Yvonne arrested, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)}}) the team split up after being forced to go on the run, losing contact with Jack entirely. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Aliens Next Door (audio story)}}) The remaining team worked together on occasion, ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|Moderation (audio story)}}, {{cs|At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)}}, {{cs|Pariahs (audio story)}}) and finally regrouped at a temp agency in Cardiff. ([[AUDIO]]: {{cs|How I Conquered the World (audio story)}}) | |||
=== Members of other teams === | |||
Other miscellaneous members included [[Philip Lyle]] (active circa [[1898]]), [[Kenneth Valentine]] (active ????-1967; died [[1967]]), [[Charles Cromwell]] (active circa [[1945]]-[[1975]]; died 2006), [[Lucia Moretti]] (active [[1965]]-[[1977]]; died [[2006]]) and [[Martin Gibbons]] (active circa [[1987]]). | |||
== Behind the scenes == | |||
=== Torchwood website === | |||
<!--It's full sets of paragraphs, especially for the "Jack-in-a-box" bit and Alice's recruitment into Torchwood. Is it REALLY worth it to bullet point this?--> | |||
The [[Series 2 (Torchwood)|series 2]] version of the [[Torchwood website]] showed a diary entry describing how [[Alice Guppy]] (unnamed in the text) became a member of Torchwood Three. It said that [[Emily Holroyd]], whom had previously been married, had a husband, whose situation in late 1898 was "complex". | |||
After the death of one of Emily's team, Alice, expecting a reprimand for having wounded Mrs Hailsham in the laundry room on 12 September 1898, was given a contract on the 13th to be employed as an Investigations Agent for Torchwood by the governess, and have her charges dropped by signing it. | |||
The following day, Emily collected Alice for the trip to Cardiff. She informed her of the death of Emily's previous partner in Torchwood, whom had succumbed to a "mutative infection", becoming the new queen of a snake-like race. Emily was "obliged" to burn her partner to death. She also told Alice what the Torchwood Institute was about. | |||
On the 15th, she noted her diary would become "less comprehensive" from then on, due to the sensitive information her experiences with Torchwood would entail. Her diary entry for that day also notes that as early as 1898, Torchwood Three's underground base was already "sprawling and untidy, but [...] filled with curious & sometimes wondrous equipment". She says her patrol begins on the night of the 16th.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep12&tab=2 |title=Episodes - Fragments - Diary |date of source=13-15 September 1898 |website name=[[Torchwood website|BBC - Torchwood]] |accessdate=24 July 2013}}</ref> | |||
The [[Series 1 (Torchwood)|series 1]] version of the Torchwood website had a "rift memo", dated 13 April 1913. It alerted the "chief" that on that day there was a sudden increase in Rift activity that manifested as "a series of small ground tremors". It was concerned about Robertson's conclusions from the data: it seemed to be a ripple from a "much bigger" event, or "[a]n aftershock washing back to towards us through time – call it a preshock, if you will." Robertson calculated that it orginated at some point in the 21st century. The memo claimed that Cardiff has "got about a century to go before the rift tears it apart." It said it "might be an idea" to increase safeguards on the rift manipulator.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.torchwood.org.uk/html/endofdays/memo.shtml |title=End of Days - Rift memo, 1913 |date of source=13 April 1913 |website name=[[Torchwood website]] |accessdate=24 July 2013 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20070827003607/http://www.torchwood.org.uk/html/endofdays/memo.shtml |archivedate= 27 August 2007}}</ref> | |||
<!--Again, unless this is paraphrased or summarised more, putting this into bullets as-is would make it an utter mess.--> | |||
On the series 2 version of the Torchwood website, [[Owen Harper]] did a report on the "wild goose chase" Torchwood Three went on that was mentioned by {{Simm|n=Harold Saxon}} during ''[[The Sound of Drums (TV story)|The Sound of Drums]]''. At 5am, [[Ianto Jones]] picked up a phone call telling Torchwood about "[s]omething funny going on in the Himalayas", which Ianto specified was in Pakistan. Ianto claimed to Owen that the call came from UNIT, who were "already there", calling for "all four of us" — Owen, Ianto, [[Toshiko Sato]] and [[Gwen Cooper]], and that according to them it was connected to [[Abaddon]]. | |||
Torchwood were briefed that there was apparently another space-time rift, halfway up K2. While Tosh was setting up rift-detecting equipment at the location on K2 that was given, a humanoid doll resembling their missing leader, Captain [[Jack Harkness]] — described by Owen as "quite a good likeness" — was rigged to jump out of the snow from a spring at the moment the equipment was activated. Owen dubbed it a "Jack-in-the-box", adding, "How bleeding hilarious." The team realised it was a set-up. After two days waiting for transport, Torchwood Three headed back home. | |||
On the trip back, they learnt Saxon had won the election, murdered the American President and was himself murdered by his wife. Owen noted from this that "a week really is a long time in politics".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/sites/arg/pages/episodes.shtml?folder=tw_case_ep01&tab=2 |title=Episodes - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Mission Report #2008/043 |author=Harper, O |date of source= |website name=[[Torchwood website|BBC - Torchwood]] |accessdate=24 July 2013}}</ref> | |||
===''Doctor Who: Legacy''=== | |||
In the story of ''[[Legacy (video game)|Doctor Who: Legacy]]'', [[Jack Harkness]], whilst travelling with [[the Doctor]]s and their [[companion]]s, provides [[co-ordinates]] to find his Torchwood teammates to help repair the [[timeline]]. | |||
== Footnotes == | |||
=== Notes === | |||
{{Notelist}} | |||
=== Citations === | |||
{{Reflist}} | |||
{{Torchwood 3 Staff}} | |||
{{Cardiff}} | |||
[[Category:Torchwood Three| ]] | |||
[[Category:Cardiff locations]] | |||
[[Category:Alien artefact collections]] | |||
[[Category:Welsh organisations]] | |||
[[Category:Secret organisations]] | |||
[[Category:Parallel world (Turn Left)]] | |||
[[de:Torchwood 3]] | |||
Latest revision as of 18:19, 20 December 2024
Torchwood Three, also known as Torchwood Cardiff, was a branch of the Torchwood Institute. Until 2009, it was based in the Hub beneath Roald Dahl Plass in Cardiff Bay to monitor the rift located in the city.
It became the only major branch of the institute after the Battle of Canary Wharf and effectively ceased to exist in 2009 after several casualties, although some members continued to use the name "Torchwood" as an informal team. In 2017, Gwen Cooper rebuilt Torchwood Cardiff and it was still in operation by 2069.
Overview[[edit] | [edit source]]
For more than a hundred years, Captain Jack Harkness had a close association with Torchwood Three; he became its leader in 2000. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) Though Torchwood Three was significantly smaller than the London branch, with only a handful of employees, after Torchwood One was destroyed in the Battle of Canary Wharf, it became the largest surviving branch of the organisation. (Torchwood Two was a single operative in Glasgow and Torchwood Four was missing.) (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"])
Even before the Battle of Canary Wharf, Torchwood Three had severed ties with the rest of the organisation and had become largely autonomous. Captain Jack, who did not share the organisation's fear of or desire to imprison the Doctor, or its policy of placing priority on obtaining alien technology over helping people and saving lives, had by that time vowed to continue Torchwood as the kind of organisation which would make the Doctor proud. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"])
Mission profile and operations[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood Three set out to defend Earth at any cost, even when opposing its own government to do so. (TV: Children of Earth)
Monitoring the Rift[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood Three's primary purpose was to monitor the rift in space and time that ran through Cardiff and deal with the "stuff" that it displaced from other timelines and planets. (TV: Meat [+]Loading...["Meat (TV story)"]) According to Jack Harkness, things that arrived through the Rift included "Creatures, timeshifts, space junk, debris". (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"]) In addition Torchwood helped humans from different eras, that the Rift had displaced forward in time, adapt to their new time zone. (TV: Out of Time [+]Loading...["Out of Time (TV story)"])
While it was obvious that the Rift deposited objects, the Rift also took things in an event known as a negative rift spike. Some humans taken by the Rift were eventually returned to Earth, but they were ravaged by falling through the Rift and incapable of being reintegrated into society. Until the year 2000 these returnees were just locked away in the vaults or cryogenically frozen, and ultimately forgotten. When Jack Harkness assumed command of Torchwood, he found two such returnees in the vaults and decided these people should be looked after. He set up a remote facility on the island of Flat Holm, telling its employees that the people he left in their care were the result of failed experiments. Over the years more returnees were found, and the rate at which people returned increased, "as if the Rift is trying to correct its mistakes". By the end of the year the number of people cared for at the facility had reached 17. (TV: Adrift [+]Loading...["Adrift (TV story)"])
Combatting the Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]
As with the rest of the Institute, Torchwood Three initially regarded the Doctor as hostile and sought to combat him. It was due to him mentioning his association with the Doctor that Torchwood initially captured Jack Harkness in 1899, only releasing him when he confessed to having no knowledge of the Doctor's current location. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"])
Under Jack's leadership in the 21st century this purpose was abandoned, to the extent that the Director of Torchwood One, Yvonne Hartman, recruited Barry Jackson to watch for the Doctor, as she did not believe Torchwood Three under Jack would report his arrival. (AUDIO: One Rule [+]Loading...["One Rule (audio story)"])
In the 2010s, the revived Torchwood continued to monitor the Doctor by recruiting Tania Bell as the address she was a tenant at, 107 Baker Street, was known to be visited by the Doctor. (AUDIO: Must-See TV [+]Loading...["Must-See TV (audio story)"])
Weevil containment[[edit] | [edit source]]
Weevils were a race of humanoid aliens which frequently turned up in Cardiff thanks to the Rift. They were first documented by Torchwood in the 1950s; by the 21st century, a population of hundreds existed in the sewers. Though Weevils usually kept to the sewers, avoiding human contact, occasionally one developed a taste for human flesh or otherwise became a nuisance. Weevil control was one of Torchwood's major day-to-day operations, and at any time several Weevils were in storage cells in the lower level of the Hub. For the purpose of catching Weevils Torchwood Three also developed an Anti-Weevil spray. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"])
Reverse-engineering technology[[edit] | [edit source]]
True to the Torchwood motto, "If it's alien, it's ours", Torchwood Three through the years collected and reverse-engineered an impressive amount of alien technology and studying alien artefacts remained central to their operation after Captain Jack took over. He characterised this as "arming the human race for the future". (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"])
Much of the technology they possessed found use in the day-to-day operations of Torchwood. For example, Torchwood possessed and operated advanced cryogenic technology since at least the 1900s, (TV: Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"]) and in the first decade of the 21st century was capable of utilising alien computer technology to "scan" all available information sources for information. Around the turn of the 21st century, the team began experimenting with a Resurrection gauntlet, for questioning deceased crime victims, (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"]) and a singularity scalpel, to easily remove inoperable alien organisms from humans. (TV: Reset [+]Loading...["Reset (TV story)"], Something Borrowed [+]Loading...["Something Borrowed (TV story)"]) Other alien technologies utlised by Torchwood Three included portable prison cells (TV: Day One [+]Loading...["Day One (TV story)"]) and a laser saw, for discreet surgical purposes. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"])
Keeping a low profile[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood had to keep not only itself but also the very existence of aliens from the public. Though greatly facilitated by the human tendency to just ignore everything that was too much out of the ordinary, keeping the secret was still no easy job. Torchwood under Jack Harkness' leadership preferred a more diplomatic approach — contacting clueless spaceship pilots and telling them that they were "spooking the locals". (TV: Cyberwoman [+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"]) Torchwood Three made use of Retcon, a powerful amnesia drug, to wipe the memories of people who encountered aliens. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"], Something Borrowed [+]Loading...["Something Borrowed (TV story)"])
Still, many Cardiff residents, even laymen, seemed to be more or less aware of all the strange things that kept happening, again and again, though often they weren't at all impressed. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang [+]Loading...["Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (TV story)"]) Many police officers were aware of and quite frustrated by what they often saw as a "regular" secret ops unit disturbing their operations or taking them over entirely. Under the command of Jack Harkness the team developed a very relaxed approach to secrecy, ordering pizzas to their top secret underground lair and having a tendency to stamp large Torchwood logos on their field equipment. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"]) As a result even the general location of Torchwood's base became fairly common knowledge, with the team acknowledging that locals tended to direct people towards the bay when asked about Torchwood. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"])
Human resources[[edit] | [edit source]]
Under the leadership of Jack Harkness, Torchwood Three personnel were encouraged to treat their work as a job, not an obsession, with Jack often seen encouraging his colleagues to go home and rest. Maintaining personal relationships outside of the Torchwood team was not discouraged (as long as secrecy was maintained) but this proved difficult, with most Torchwood members turning to fellow team members for companionship (i.e. Jack and Ianto, Owen and Tosh). An exception to this was Gwen Cooper, who maintained a relationship with her husband Rhys Williams, although ultimately Rhys was made aware of Torchwood's existence when he was recruited for one case that dealt with alien meat. (TV: Meat [+]Loading...["Meat (TV story)"])
Certain protocols were in place when a team member died of any cause. His or her body was to be stored permanently (possibly for future study), and his or her worldly possessions were to be confiscated by Torchwood and held in storage permanently. This is known to be the case with Suzie Costello. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"], They Keep Killing Suzie [+]Loading...["They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)"]) Jack breached these protocols to allow Toshiko Sato to take Sebastian Vaughan's body back to his family home, as per his wishes, (AUDIO: The Vigil [+]Loading...["The Vigil (audio story)"]) and later allowed Tosh to have a proper burial and funeral that her mother attended. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"])
It was possible for Torchwood members to resign, though Owen Harper believed that they would be required to take a retcon pill to forget their involvement with the team, willingly or not. (TV: End of Days [+]Loading...["End of Days (TV story)"]) Lucia Moretti and her daughter entered a protection program after Lucia left Torchwood in 1977. She ultimately died of natural causes, which Agent Johnson noted was rare for Torchwood personnel. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)"])
Other tasks[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood was also responsible for monitoring other potential sources of otherworldly trouble in the vicinity of Cardiff. They monitored the local trade in alien artefacts (such as Dogon sixth eyes) (TV: Random Shoes [+]Loading...["Random Shoes (TV story)"]) and locals known to be involved in aliens or alien artefacts, such as collector Henry Parker. (TV: A Day in the Death [+]Loading...["A Day in the Death (TV story)"]) Torchwood also monitored conspiracy theorists such as George Wilson, Sam Hallett, (AUDIO: The Conspiracy [+]Loading...["The Conspiracy (audio story)"]) and Brent Hayden. (AUDIO: The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood [+]Loading...["The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood (audio story)"])
Torchwood Cardiff continued the practice of Corpse Day; an annual collaboration with local police where Torchwood would review some of their unsolved cases. (AUDIO: Corpse Day [+]Loading...["Corpse Day (audio story)"])
After helping Freda, a half-alien refugee sent back in time to seek asylum, Jack Harkness agreed to create an alien asylum policy for Torchwood Three. (AUDIO: Asylum [+]Loading...["Asylum (audio story)"])
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
19th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood operated in Cardiff from 1885 onwards. (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"]) It was founded under the suggestion of Agnes Havisham, who believed that the Rift posed a threat after its recent activation. (PROSE: Risk Assessment [+]Loading...["Risk Assessment (novel)"])
By the end of the 19th century, Emily Holroyd was leader of Torchwood Cardiff. (PROSE: Torchwood: The Encyclopedia [+]Loading...["Torchwood: The Encyclopedia (reference book)"]) In 1898, she recruited Alice Guppy as her mission partner after her previous operative was killed. (PROSE: Diary of Alice Guppy [+]Loading...["Diary of Alice Guppy (short story)"])
The Torchwood headquarters in Cardiff at that time consisted of little more than a few rooms and a holding cell. They had a policy of executing hostile aliens immediately as they had no way of returning them home. Over a period of more than a year, Emily and Alice monitored Jack Harkness, who made mention of "the Doctor". (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], PROSE: Captain Jack Transcripts [+]Loading...["Captain Jack Transcripts (short story)"]) As the Torchwood Institute was founded largely to combat the Doctor, (TV: Tooth and Claw [+]Loading...["Tooth and Claw (TV story)"], Army of Ghosts [+]Loading...["Army of Ghosts (TV story)"]) the two women captured Jack, discovered his ability to return from the dead and recruited him as a field agent. Despite his dislike of Torchwood's ruthlessness, Jack reluctantly accepted after a little girl told him he wouldn't meet the Doctor again for over a hundred years,
Jack continued to sporadically work for the Institute until the end of the 20th century, while also undertaking other activities such as fighting in the world wars. Not long after, Torchwood would begin to physically expand into the underground and to build the Hub. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"])
Around 1899, Torchwood infiltrated and destroyed the HMS Hades after it was found to be a lab for experimenting on aliens. (PROSE: The Baby Farmers [+]Loading...["The Baby Farmers (short story)"])
Later in 1899, Jack was temporarily seconded to Torchwood London. (AUDIO: The Victorian Age [+]Loading...["The Victorian Age (audio story)"]) He later returned to Cardiff with orders from Queen Victoria to throw Object 1 into the Rift. However he neglected to do so, hoping that Object 1 might attract the Doctor. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
20th century[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1901, an older version of Jack Harkness was discovered buried alive below Cardiff, having been left there in 27. In order to prevent a paradox, this older Jack, at his request, was cryogenically frozen, his body kept in storage (unbeknownst to his younger self or later Torchwood staff) until the 21st century. (TV: Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"])
In 1914, after becoming aware of the Weevils and Object 1's likely involvement in their creation, Jack finally threw it into the Rift. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
In 1918, Torchwood Three, under the command of Gerald Kneale, already had access to sophisticated cryogenic suspension technology. Kneale and another operative, Harriet Derbyshire, investigated supposed hauntings (in fact time shifts from the future) at St Teilo's Hospital. Following instructions from Torchwood from the future, they took shellshocked soldier Tommy Brockless away from the hospital and put him in cryogenic suspension. Tommy was awoken annually for a single day to check his health.
In 1919, Harriet was killed in action. (TV: To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"]) Gerald held himself responsible her death and stepped down as Torchwood leader. (COMIC: Rift War! [+]Loading...["Rift War! (comic story)"])
In 1941, Torchwood Three was led by Tilda Brennan. She heavily distrusted Jack who was still serving as a freelance agent. In August, Jack brought an alien child, "A. Neil", to the Hub and then took a few days off. During this time Tilda was manipulated by Bilis Manger, exploiting her hatred of Harkness, into following the instructions in File TW3/87/BM . She vivisected "A. Neil", overpowering the rest of the team when they objected. When he returned Jack confronted her in the Vaults and she held a gun to the head of teammate Greg Bishop, who was Jack's lover. The Light briefly possessed her, enabling Jack to shoot her. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets [+]Loading...["The Twilight Streets (novel)"])
The Torchwood team of the 1950s were thought by Jack Harkness to be "rotten apples". They were known to sell alien artefacts in secret auctions until Harkness flooded the market with fakes. (PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons [+]Loading...["The Beauty of Our Weapons (short story)"])
In 1967, a KVI substation was discovered in Cardiff. Kenneth Valentine defected from Torchwood and helped the KVI find Michael Bellini. The Vondrax attacked the KVI substation and wiped out everyone inside. On the orders of a Captain Turner, Lucy and Charles Cromwell were sent in on a cleanup operation with a group of men. (PROSE: Trace Memory [+]Loading...["Trace Memory (novel)"])
In 1967, a 17-year-old Leonardo da Vinci got swept up in a Rift storm and ended up deposited in the Torchwood Hub. It took the team a while to work out who he was. The team sent him back using the Rift Manipulator, giving him a Rift Key. (PROSE: Cultural Firsts [+]Loading...["Cultural Firsts (short story)"])
Lucia Moretti served with Torchwood Three between 1968 and 1977. She and Jack were lovers and had a daughter, Melissa, in 1975. In 1977, Lucia left Torchwood and went into a protection programme with her daughter. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)"]) During the 1970s Torchwood Three struggled with containing the Weevils, leading to Torchwood One lending them assistance. (AUDIO: Tube Strike [+]Loading...["Tube Strike (audio story)"])
Alex Hopkins was head of Torchwood Three in the 1990s. He received an offer to become an agent of the Committee, but he declined. However, the Committee had another agent in the team. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"]) Jack was working as a field agent at this time. The team included Karen Baldwin, James Unsworth (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], AUDIO: Red Skies [+]Loading...["Red Skies (audio story)"]) and Ariana. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]
New Year's Eve massacre[[edit] | [edit source]]
On New Year's Eve 1999, Alex was approached by the little girl in Newport after hunting an alien. She gave him Object 1, promising it would reveal who on the team couldn't be trusted. He prepared for Torchwood's New Year's party and opened Object 1 whilst waiting for the others to arrive, tempted by the desire to know who worked for the Committee. He saw visions of the 21st century, including the Committee's deals with the British government, the 456 and Miracle Day. His team arrived and, as a mercy killing, Alex shot them all, Ariana last, (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"]) whilst on the phone to Torchwood One agent Yvonne Hartman. (AUDIO: One Rule [+]Loading...["One Rule (audio story)"]) Jack returned to the Hub to discover the massacre and Alex handed command over to him before shooting himself. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) Alex was added to the Red List. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
Jack's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Jack Harkness was left with the job of recruiting a new team and leading it. He decided to reform Torchwood into a more humane organisation, inspired by his admiration of the Doctor. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) As a result, eventual Director of Torchwood One Yvonne Hartman deemed him not proper Torchwood. (AUDIO: One Rule [+]Loading...["One Rule (audio story)"])
Shortly thereafter, Harkness discovered two humans whom the rift had returned and had been locked away in the Hub's cells, since Torchwood had deemed them unable to reintegrate into society. He founded a facility on the island of Flat Holm to care for them and others who were later returned. Subsequently, he chose not to inform certain members of his staff. (TV: Adrift [+]Loading...["Adrift (TV story)"])
In the early 2000s, Jack headhunted Suzie Costello and summoned her to Cardiff. (AUDIO: Moving Target [+]Loading...["Moving Target (audio story)"]) He arranged Toshiko Sato's release from a UNIT prison to return for her joining Torchwood for five years. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) During her first years at Torchwood, Tosh developed Rift equations, which were to be used as guidelines to more safely operate the Rift Manipulator. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness [+]Loading...["Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)"]) Early in her work with Torchwood, Tosh was sent to a psychiatric ward after being seen in public with a gun and warning about aliens. She discovered the ward's staff were exploiting alien squids to reduce the number of patients and tricked them into taking high quantity of drugs so they became more appetising to the aliens than the patients, escaping in the ensuing chaos and contacting Suzie. (AUDIO: Suckers [+]Loading...["Suckers (audio story)"])
Suzie intercepted an Orthopteroid which had just arrived from the Rift at Penarth Pier, using Emlyn Crook to keep its attention there whilst she travelled to the scene with a beam emitter, having to use a taxi as the rest of the team was busy elsewhere. (AUDIO: Bad Connection [+]Loading...["Bad Connection (audio story)"])
In 2004, Torchwood Three shutdown an Ovid factory in South Wales which had been producing duplicates of the population of a nearby village. Suzie found Object 1 in the factory, which Jack told her to pass on to Torchwood One. (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
In March 2005, Yvonne Hartman had the Hub placed in a time bubble for a day, freezing the Torchwood Three team, consisting of Jack, Suzie and Tosh, in time so she could recover a Drahvin scanner. (AUDIO: One Rule [+]Loading...["One Rule (audio story)"])
Jack later hired Sebastian Vaughan, whose recruitment had been arranged by his father, a Cabinet minister, (AUDIO: The Vigil [+]Loading...["The Vigil (audio story)"]) and employed Dr Owen Harper as the team's medical officer after he witnessed the death of his fiancé due to an alien parasite. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"])
Suzie took some time off from Torchwood to investigate a black spot off the coast of Iceland, hoping to find the missing Torchwood Four, where she discovered a crashed spaceship. (AUDIO: The Last Love Song of Suzie Costello [+]Loading...["The Last Love Song of Suzie Costello (audio story)"])
In March 2006, (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"]) Tosh filled in for a hungover Owen, on his second week on the job, (TV: Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"]) and went to London to examine the occupant of an alien spacecraft which had crashed in the Thames. Whilst studying it at Albion Hospital she encountered the Ninth Doctor, who was investigating the crash too. (TV: Aliens of London [+]Loading...["Aliens of London (TV story)"])
Later in 2006, Torchwood Three responded to the crash of an Elyrian spaceship, unaware that Suzie had actually caused it. (AUDIO: Sync [+]Loading...["Sync (audio story)"]) In September, Jack kept the team in lockdown in the Hub to prevent them meeting his past self who was travelling with the Ninth Doctor. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets [+]Loading...["The Twilight Streets (novel)"]) In November, Suzie became caught up in an alien hunt when her experiments with a alien device prevented her being frozen in time along with the rest of the world. She attempted to help the target, Alex, survive the alien hunters but gave up after some days and killed Alex herself to finally end the hunt and unfreeze the world. (AUDIO: Moving Target [+]Loading...["Moving Target (audio story)"])
Whilst Suzie was a member of the team, Operation Goldenrod occurred. (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"], Another Life [+]Loading...["Another Life (novel)"])
In 2007, after the fall of Torchwood One at the Battle of Canary Wharf, (TV: Doomsday [+]Loading...["Doomsday (TV story)"]) Tosh was taken hostage by the Dow Cohort for their raid of the Antebellum. She foiled both their agents and an undercover UNIT Black Ops agent exploiting the raid. (AUDIO: War Chest [+]Loading...["War Chest (audio story)"]) Ianto Jones, a survivor of the fallen Torchwood One, began asking to work for Torchwood Three. Jack initially rejected him out of hand, not wanting any ties to the old regime, but eventually accepted him after he helped capture a pterodactyl which had come through the Rift. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) Ianto's true reason for joining Torchwood Three was in hopes of reversing the partial cyber-conversion of his girlfriend Lisa Hallett, who he transported to and hid in the Hub. (TV: Cyberwoman [+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"])
Torchwood Three began encountering cortex leeches which were appearing through the Rift in greater and greater numbers and attacking the homeless population of Cardiff. During this investigation Sebastian was killed by a leech. Jack gave Tosh permission for his body to be returned to Rockfell Hall per his request, which was against the usual protocol. (AUDIO: The Vigil [+]Loading...["The Vigil (audio story)"])
At some point in the 2000s,[nb 1] Suzie committed a series of murders with an alien artefact, the Life knife, in order to test out the Resurrection gauntlet. She committed suicide when her activities were discovered. Jack took in Gwen Cooper, a Cardiff Police Constable who had helped him to solve the case. She was the only member of the team aware of his immortality, having witnessed him resurrect after Suzie had shot him. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"]) When Gwen joined, she found the team somewhat distrustful of Jack, due to his secrecy. Her first mission with the team concerned an alien gas which had escaped a meteor and possessed Carys Fletcher. During the incident Gwen was concerned by the team's attitude towards Carys and attempted to make them care more. (TV: Day One [+]Loading...["Day One (TV story)"]) Torchwood Three next acquired a quantum transducer from small-time criminal Bernie Harris, (TV: Ghost Machine [+]Loading...["Ghost Machine (TV story)"]) defeated the Bruydac (PROSE: Another Life [+]Loading...["Another Life (novel)"]) and shutdown Scotus Clinic, which had been using alien tapeworms as a weight-loss treatment. (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"])
The team's trust in Ianto was broken when they were attacked by Lisa, who had been overtaken by Cyberman conditioning. They were eventually forced to kill her, to Ianto's horror. (TV: Cyberwoman [+]Loading...["Cyberwoman (TV story)"]) Afterwards Ianto felt increasingly depressed and lonely and took to going to The Ferret to confide in the bar maid, Mandy, there. (AUDIO: Broken [+]Loading...["Broken (audio story)"]) The team's trust in Jack was further damaged when he surrendered a child, Jasmine, to the Fairies rather than oppose them. (TV: Small Worlds [+]Loading...["Small Worlds (TV story)"]) Jack and Ianto dealt with an incursion of Scorchies in the Millennium Centre together and began improving their friendship. (AUDIO: Broken [+]Loading...["Broken (audio story)"]) Torchwood subsequently resettled Sontaran Major Kreg at Mumbles Bay Caravan Park to prevent him reporting back to his fleet. (AUDIO: The Great Sontaran War [+]Loading...["The Great Sontaran War (audio story)"]) After reports of disappearances on the Brecon Beacons, the team feared the Rift may be expanding. They instead discovered a village of cannibals in the middle of their harvest which they held every ten years. The team nearly fell victim to the cannibals, however Jack managed to disable the cannibals by firing a shotgun after driving a tractor through a wall. (TV: Countrycide [+]Loading...["Countrycide (TV story)"]) The team was traumatised by the experience, with Tosh having nightmares. Ianto considered attempting suicide, the incident having shattered his already fragile mental health, but was saved by the intervention of Mandy. (AUDIO: Broken [+]Loading...["Broken (audio story)"]) Gwen began an affair with Owen, feeling increasingly disconnected from her boyfriend, Rhys, who was unaware of Torchwood's true nature. (TV: Countrycide [+]Loading...["Countrycide (TV story)"])
Not long after the cannibal incident, Tosh was seduced by Mary, an Arcateenian criminal, who eventually convinced her to let her into the Hub to retrieve her transporter which had been recovered in an archaeological dig and seized by Torchwood. Jack had pre-empted her, having noticed Tosh's odd behaviour, and pre-programmed it to take Mary into the Sun. His ruthlessness was another blow to the team's trust in him. (TV: Greeks Bearing Gifts [+]Loading...["Greeks Bearing Gifts (TV story)"]) That night Jack went to investigate disappearances at The Ferret and encountered Ianto. They discovered Mandy was working with an alien slave-driver posing as "the Saviour" to send people through the Rift. Feeling unable to trust anyone, Ianto left Jack to the Saviour however changed his mind and came to his rescue. Afterwards he confessed his troubles to Jack and they began a relationship. (AUDIO: Broken [+]Loading...["Broken (audio story)"])
Tosh investigated Simon's therapy group, discovering he was exploiting the member's psychic abilities to fatally attack people who annoyed them, and helped Janet stand up to him, resulting in Simon's death. (AUDIO: Instant Karma [+]Loading...["Instant Karma (audio story)"])
Jack began looking into the Committee after becoming aware of conspiracy theorist George Wilson and recognising his theories as actually accurate. A Committee member posing as George's adopted daughter framed Jack for George‘s murder, so he decided to disappear for a while, leaving a recording for the rest of the team. (AUDIO: The Conspiracy [+]Loading...["The Conspiracy (audio story)"]) The team began investigating the Committee. Gwen interviewed a conspiracy journalist, Madeline, who was forced to fatally overdose by a Committee member in her mind, (AUDIO: The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"]) and Ianto investigated Ephraim Salt by infiltrating the SkyPuncher. (AUDIO: Fall to Earth [+]Loading...["Fall to Earth (audio story)"]) Jack rejoined the team after exposing Neil Redmond's duplicate, created by Ovid for the Committee. (AUDIO: Uncanny Valley [+]Loading...["Uncanny Valley (audio story)"]) Tosh used information gained from that to bargain with the KVI so she could investigate the Pulse in Zone 10. (AUDIO: Zone 10 [+]Loading...["Zone 10 (audio story)"])
After a grisly triple murder with the killer leaving "Torchwood" as a calling card, the team used the resurrection gauntlet on the victims. During their two minutes of revival, one of the victims revealed their killer, Max, and that he had been close to Suzie Costello. They resurrected Suzie only for her to seemingly come back for good. She was actually draining life from Gwen, who had been wielding the gauntlet, and had arranged Max's killings in advance for Torchwood to resurrect her. The team destroyed the gauntlet before the transfer was complete, killing Suzie again and saving Gwen. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie [+]Loading...["They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)"])
Torchwood Three investigated a series of murders orchestrated by the immortal alchemist Thomas Vaughan, (AUDIO: Hidden [+]Loading...["Hidden (audio story)"]) recovered a Dogon sixth eye from the body of local alien hunter Eugene Jones after he was killed in a hit-and-run, (TV: Random Shoes [+]Loading...["Random Shoes (TV story)"]) and sent Ianto and Owen to Hengoed to investigate an alien signal. They found a disguised alien living there, Pat, who was the last of her kind and left her in peace after she turned off the signal. (AUDIO: The Last Beacon [+]Loading...["The Last Beacon (audio story)"])
In December, Torchwood Three tried to help three travellers from the 1950s, who had been displaced in time on the Sky Gypsy by the Rift, adjust to life in the 2000s. Ultimately one decided to commit suicide and another took off in the Sky Gypsy again in hopes of travelling back through the Rift, breaking Owen‘s heart as he'd fallen for her. (TV: Out of Time [+]Loading...["Out of Time (TV story)"]) At Christmas, Ianto encountered an entity appearing to be Mari Lwyd. (AUDIO: The Grey Mare [+]Loading...["The Grey Mare (audio story)"]) A few weeks later, Torchwood Three shut down a Weevil fighting ring. (TV: Combat [+]Loading...["Combat (TV story)"])
When Tosh and Jack were transported to 1941 Cardiff by the machinations of Bilis Manger, Owen, out of desperation, used the manipulator and Tosh's Rift equations to try and return them, Ianto disagreeing with his attempts and shooting him in the shoulder to try and stop him, however he failed and Owen succeeded. (TV: Captain Jack Harkness [+]Loading...["Captain Jack Harkness (TV story)"]) Owen's actions would have wide-ranging consequences, as the use of the Manipulator made the Rift splinter and caused temporal shifts to occur all over Cardiff and the Earth. After a series of visions by Bilis, the team revolted against Jack and decided to open the Rift fully to end the crisis. Jack still refused to yield so Owen shot and killed him. Opening the Rift released the ancient demon Abaddon, briefly causing havoc in central Cardiff. Jack revived, revealing his immortality to the team, and defeated Abaddon by overloading him with his lifespan. After some weeks, Jack revived and reconciled with the team. (TV: End of Days [+]Loading...["End of Days (TV story)"]) Shortly afterwards, Jack suddenly and without warning left Torchwood, when the Tenth Doctor came to refuel the TARDIS at the rift and Jack chased him off-world. (TV: End of Days [+]Loading...["End of Days (TV story)"], Utopia [+]Loading...["Utopia (TV story)"]) Under Torchwood guidelines Tosh should have assumed leadership as the second longest serving member, however Gwen became leader after taking charge during an incident where Tosh was unfit to command due to exposure to an alien artefact. (PROSE: Kaleidoscope [+]Loading...["Kaleidoscope (short story)"])
In Jack's absence, Prime Minister Harold Saxon sent Torchwood Three on a "wild goose chase" mission away from Great Britain to the Himalayas. (TV: The Sound of Drums [+]Loading...["The Sound of Drums (TV story)"]) Jack reunited with them after their return to Cardiff, intervening in time to kill a Blowfish who had taken hostages. Captain John, an old colleague of Jack's, came to Cardiff and embroiled Torchwood Three in a complex scheme. (TV: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang [+]Loading...["Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (TV story)"]) In the following months, the team uncovered and wiped out an alien sleeper cell, (TV: Sleeper [+]Loading...["Sleeper (TV story)"], AUDIO: Serenity [+]Loading...["Serenity (audio story)"]) awoke Tommy and sent him back through time to resolve the temporal crisis at St Telio's Hospital, (TV: To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"]) stopped a Water Hag reproducing via infections (PROSE: Something in the Water [+]Loading...["Something in the Water (novel)"]) and shutdown Harries & Harries, during which Gwen's husband Rhys became aware of the true nature of her job. (TV: Meat [+]Loading...["Meat (TV story)"]) Torchwood Three also tried to help Michael Bellini escape the Vondrax, (PROSE: Trace Memory [+]Loading...["Trace Memory (novel)"]) resolved a telesensual field being broadcast by a crashed alien spacecraft, (AUDIO: Everyone Says Hello [+]Loading...["Everyone Says Hello (audio story)"]) were embroiled in the conflict between the Light and the Dark by Bilis Manger, (PROSE: The Twilight Streets [+]Loading...["The Twilight Streets (novel)"]) stopped Patrick Jefferson trapping people he deemed sinners in another dimension, (AUDIO: In the Shadows [+]Loading...["In the Shadows (audio story)"]) and were briefly infiltrated by Adam. (TV: Adam [+]Loading...["Adam (TV story)"]) Tosh went to London after being contacted by a Torchwood One survivor, Stephen Hines, about mysterious disappearances and discovered the cause was an alien computer virus. (AUDIO: torchwood_cascade_CDRIP.tor [+]Loading...["Torchwood cascade CDRIP.tor (audio story)","torchwood_cascade_CDRIP.tor"]) Ianto led the shut down of Oliver Milne's business, which was run using brain augmentation technology supplied by the Committee. Torchwood's actions accidentally led to the deaths of all the office's staff. Ianto covered up Torchwood's involvement from the subsequent inquiry and retconned himself to forget it. (AUDIO: The Office of Never Was [+]Loading...["The Office of Never Was (audio story)"])
UNIT medical officer Dr Martha Jones came in briefly at Jack's request in order to provide support during an investigation of a series of unusual murders, which they connected to experiments with Reset at the Pharm. Owen died after being shot by the Pharm's Director during the shut down of the organisation. (TV: Reset [+]Loading...["Reset (TV story)"]) He was resurrected but without signs of life via a second Resurrection gauntlet, which Jack had assumed would be temporary. This led to a personification of Death manifesting through Owen, which he eventually defeated. (TV: Dead Man Walking [+]Loading...["Dead Man Walking (TV story)"]) This led to Dr Jones staying with Torchwood somewhat longer than anticipated whilst Owen recovered from his undeath. Owen returned to duty as the only one who could infiltrate alien collector Henry Parker's residence, due to him being undead and expelling no heat, to investigate a mysterious energy surge. It transpired the energy surge was simply a harmless alien artefact which was delivering a message. Content Owen was ready to return to work, Martha departed. (TV: A Day in the Death [+]Loading...["A Day in the Death (TV story)"])
Following Owen's undeath, the team faced creatures being unleashed by Gareth Portland via MonstaQuest, (PROSE: Pack Animals [+]Loading...["Pack Animals (novel)"]) killed a pair of Nostrovites, (TV: Something Borrowed [+]Loading...["Something Borrowed (TV story)"]) stopped a thought-form feeding on residents of SkyPoint, (PROSE: SkyPoint [+]Loading...["SkyPoint (novel)"]) investigated the Church of the Outsiders (AUDIO: Believe [+]Loading...["Believe (audio story)"]) and stopped the rampage of the Night Travellers. (TV: From Out of the Rain [+]Loading...["From Out of the Rain (TV story)"]) Ianto was lured back to Oliver Milne's abandoned office block as Oliver sought his revenge. Ianto tricked Oliver, leaving him trapped on the top floor, and the retconned his memories of the incident again. (AUDIO: The Office of Never Was [+]Loading...["The Office of Never Was (audio story)"])
After the Rift started returning more and more humans who had previously been taken away in negative rift spikes, Jack arranged for the victims to continue to be transferred to the Flat Holm facility without telling the rest of the team. With the help of Tosh and discreet tip-off from Ianto, Gwen discovered the facility's existence whilst searching for a missing boy who it turned out had been taken and then returned, decades older, by the Rift. Jack reluctantly let Gwen take the boy's mother to meet him however she was horrified by the experience and told Gwen not to do it to anyone else. (TV: Adrift [+]Loading...["Adrift (TV story)"])
After they collaborated on Corpse Day, (AUDIO: Corpse Day [+]Loading...["Corpse Day (audio story)"]) Owen began working with Gwen's former partner PC Andy Davidson on various investigations, forming an unlikely partnership. (AUDIO: The Hope [+]Loading...["The Hope (audio story)"], The Three Monkeys [+]Loading...["The Three Monkeys (audio story)"]) Caite, an alien of the Threshold, became Andy's girlfriend in an attempt to infiltrate Torchwood to let her people invade through the Rift and ingratiated herself with Owen using her abilities to drain life from other people to revive him briefly, however they pushed it too far and killed an old woman. Owen tried to use Torchwood's resources to cover it up however Andy continued to be suspicious. Eventually Caite convinced Owen to let her connect her transport device to the Rift Manipulator so she could go back in time and prevent the death, however Owen realised what she was truly doing. Andy, who had followed them into the Hub, used her device to send Caite away and ended his friendship with Owen. (AUDIO: Gooseberry [+]Loading...["Gooseberry (audio story)"])
Torchwood Three lost two members of the team during Gray's vengeful crusade against his brother, Jack. Owen was trapped in a room containing a nuclear meltdown, which decomposed his already dead body, and Tosh died of a shot to the stomach by Gray, who was attempting to stop her guiding Owen in containing the meltdown. Jack finally imprisoned Gray in cryogenic suspension in the Hub. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"])
A trio[[edit] | [edit source]]
Reduced to just three, Torchwood Three resolved to carry on. (TV: Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"]) In the weeks following Owen and Tosh's deaths, Jack served as surrogate parent for the next Ruler of the Yalnix (AUDIO: Expectant [+]Loading...["Expectant (audio story)"]) and Martha invited the team to CERN to investigate a series of disappearances amongst UNIT personnel. The team discovered Dr Harrington was responsible, having been tricked by an alien entity posing as his dead wife. (AUDIO: Lost Souls [+]Loading...["Lost Souls (audio story)"])
Torchwood Three was called upon by former Prime Minister Harriet Jones via the sub-wave network along with Sarah Jane Smith and Martha Jones in an effort to contact the Tenth Doctor during the Dalek invasion. Jack, Gwen and Ianto used the Rift Manipulator in conjunction with Sarah Jane's supercomputer Mr Smith to amplify the signal of Martha's superphone to break the signal barrier and reach the Doctor. Jack left the team behind to assist the Doctor, whilst a Dalek saucer traced the signal to the Torchwood Hub. (TV: The Stolen Earth [+]Loading...["The Stolen Earth (TV story)"]) Gwen and Ianto were saved from Dalek extermination by the time-lock invented by Tosh before she died along with the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor blowing up the Dalek fleet's dalekanium casings on the Crucible. The two were later called upon by the Doctor himself to help assist his TARDIS via Rift Manipulator in its effort to move the Earth back to its regular orbit. Afterwards Jack returned to the team. (TV: Journey's End [+]Loading...["Journey's End (TV story)"])
Together the trio stopped an alien swarm which fed on human guilt, having to sacrifice the Sea Queen in the process, (AUDIO: The Sin Eaters [+]Loading...["The Sin Eaters (audio story)"]) helped a half-alien asylum seeker sent back in time by Torchwood from 2069 (AUDIO: Asylum [+]Loading...["Asylum (audio story)"]) and investigated an alien energy field, which they traced to Delhi. There they discovered that Torchwood India was still active, led by the Duchess, having been in a time store since Jack shut them down in 1926. They foiled their plan to turn Earth back to 1926, freezing Torchwood India in time. (AUDIO: Golden Age [+]Loading...["Golden Age (audio story)"]) Back in Cardiff, the team investigated a series of phone calls putting those who answered in comas (AUDIO: The Dead Line [+]Loading...["The Dead Line (audio story)"]) and discovered the Department of Curiosities at the same time as rival institution Firestone Finance. (AUDIO: Department X [+]Loading...["Department X (audio story)"])
After helping repair a Keranium spacecraft, Torchwood Three faced the outbreak of the Good Thinking virus in Cardiff. Whilst Jack was infected in the Hub, Ianto used soft light projection to contact Norton Folgate for information on the original outbreak in the 1950s. After he died, Jack was collected by Heights Pharmaceuticals and taken to the Emergency Response Centre, being followed by Ianto. They discovered Heights had leaked the virus accidentally and were now vaccinating with Provictus, an improved variant of the virus capable of uploading people's thoughts to a Data Core. Jack activated a trojan horse in his data, which had been uploaded to the Date Core when he died of Good Thinking, to shut down Provictus whilst Gwen helped distribute a true cure developed from his blood. (AUDIO: Outbreak [+]Loading...["Outbreak (audio story)"])
Torchwood Three responded to the scene of a spaceship crash at the same time as UNIT and found a dead body that UNIT had missed. Gwen took it to a UNIT victim-retrieval station in Hereford for Martha to autopsy, whilst Jack and Ianto found chamelon technology at the crash site. Gwen and Martha discovered the corpse was actually a live chameleon and destroyed the base to stop it. (AUDIO: Dissected [+]Loading...["Dissected (audio story)"])
Torchwood Three investigated Joanna Carew‘s remarkable recovery and discovered she had been helped by an alien entity, Fitzroy. They stopped her disabling human technology with a virus to allow Fitzroy to arrive on Earth. (AUDIO: The Devil and Miss Carew [+]Loading...["The Devil and Miss Carew (audio story)"]) Torchwood pursued an alien with a plasma cannon on the Severn Bridge. Jack shooting him caused a massive hole in both the alien and the bridge, causing the SUV to fall underwater where Torchwood heard a parasite's call. They traced the call to the Mariana Trench and collaborated with UNIT to investigate, being supplied with the USS Calvin and Octopus Rock and accompanied by Carlie Roberts. They discovered the source was an alien parasite seeking a new host and killed it. (AUDIO: Submission [+]Loading...["Submission (audio story)"])
Destruction[[edit] | [edit source]]
In September 2009, Torchwood Three was targeted by Agent Johnson's team on behalf of the British government to stop them exposing Britain's past dealings with the 456 after they returned to Earth. Using Rupesh Patanjali as a lure, Johnson's team inserted a bomb into Jack's abdomen. When it detonated the Hub was destroyed, as the government had believed that Jack's immortality was tied to the Hub, whilst Jack himself was blown apart. Gwen and Ianto escaped, avoiding snipers waiting by the Hub. The explosion was reported on the news and it left a gaping hole where the Hub was. Jack's remains were retrieved by Johnson's team and she decided to entomb him in concrete after his body pieced itself back together. Ianto, Gwen and Rhys managed to rescue him and the team made their way to London. (TV: Children of Earth: Day One [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day One (TV story)"], Children of Earth: Day Two [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Two (TV story)"])
Despite the destruction of the Hub, the surviving members of the team continued to operate in an abandoned Torchwood One holding facility, aided by the fact that some of Torchwood's software survived on the server which was not destroyed with the Hub. With the help of Lois Habiba, they recorded Cabinet meetings discussing how to meet the 456's demands for 10% of each country's children and blackmailed the government into allowing Jack and Ianto to confront the 456 ambassador in Thames House. The ambassador rejected their threats and unleashed a virus, which killed everyone in the building including Ianto. When he revived, Jack surrendered to the government and told Gwen to go to Ianto's family, to tell them what had happened and protect their children. He was rescued by Johnson, who had turned against the government after seeing the recordings, and worked with her to kill the ambassador at the cost his own grandson's life. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Three [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Three (TV story)"], Children of Earth: Day Four [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Four (TV story)"], Children of Earth: Day Five [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)"]) After the crisis the 456 Regulation was enacted, declaring Jack and Gwen officially deceased. (TV: The New World [+]Loading...["The New World (TV story)"])
In October, the ruins of the Hub were excavated and the technology within became choice pickings for various agencies. (PROSE: Long Time Dead [+]Loading...["Long Time Dead (novel)"]) British billionaire Joshua Naismith, (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) Italian-American billionaire Angelo Colasanto, (TV: End of the Road [+]Loading...["End of the Road (TV story)"]) and the British government all successfully pilfered its ruins for alien artefacts. During the excavation, a piece of alien technology revived Suzie for a second time. She began a murder spree, with Jack calling her to warn her that he was coming for her. Ultimately she was tracked down to the ruins of the Hub by PC Tom Cutler and they died together in a bomb explosion. (PROSE: Long Time Dead [+]Loading...["Long Time Dead (novel)"]) Due to the recession, the British government would later sell many of the relics salvaged from Torchwood Three at high prices internationally. (PROSE: The Men Who Sold the World [+]Loading...["The Men Who Sold the World (novel)"])
Interregnum[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the interregnum period following the 456 incident, a time in which Torchwood was described as fallen, (TV: The End of Time [+]Loading...["The End of Time (TV story)"]) former Time Agent John Hart teamed up with Gwen's husband Rhys to travel back in time roughly a year, in lieu of Jack and Gwen. (COMIC: Shrouded [+]Loading...["Shrouded (comic story)"]) Six months after the fall of Torchwood Three, having travelled the world, (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)"]) Jack returned to Cardiff and sealed the Rift by destroying The House of the Dead. (AUDIO: The House of the Dead [+]Loading...["The House of the Dead (audio story)"]) He met up with Gwen who gave him his salvaged vortex manipulator, enabling him to leave Earth. (TV: Children of Earth: Day Five [+]Loading...["Children of Earth: Day Five (TV story)"])
In 2011, Jack and Gwen reunited and began operations as an informal team still using the name "Torchwood", working to stop the event known as the Miracle, when people all over the world stopped dying. Other members of this unofficial team included CIA agents Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond, doctor Vera Juarez and Gwen's husband Rhys Williams. After the event's resolution, at the cost of Vera and Esther's lives, Gwen asked Jack if he intended to restart Torchwood (TV: Miracle Day) however the team ultimately disbanded with Rex returning to the CIA, (AUDIO: Army of One [+]Loading...["Army of One (audio story)"]) and Jack leaving Earth for on a holiday away from humanity. (AUDIO: Red Skies [+]Loading...["Red Skies (audio story)"])
Whilst in Washington DC shortly after the Miracle, Gwen and Rhys encountered an alien cuckoo (AUDIO: Army of One [+]Loading...["Army of One (audio story)"]) and Jack later returned to Cardiff to help investigate Mr Invincible. (AUDIO: Mr Invincible [+]Loading...["Mr Invincible (audio story)"]) He returned to Earth again in 2012, working with Gwen and Rhys to combat the Helix Intelligence. (PROSE: Exodus Code [+]Loading...["Exodus Code (novel)"]) In absence of the team, Andy Davidson decided to do what he could to investigate the "weird stuff" still happening. (AUDIO: Cadoc Point [+]Loading...["Cadoc Point (audio story)"])
Return[[edit] | [edit source]]
Four years after the Miracle, after helping Jack stop the Evolved experiment at Bryn Offa Nursing Home, Gwen and Rhys decided to officially restart Torchwood. (AUDIO: Forgotten Lives [+]Loading...["Forgotten Lives (audio story)"]) To help fund the new Torchwood, Gwen took a job as an independent witness at a fracking site in Glynteg. She discovered the drilling had unwittingly unleashed an alien infection and neutralised it. (AUDIO: Smashed [+]Loading...["Smashed (audio story)"])
Gwen became the acting head of Torchwood Cardiff, (COMIC: World Without End [+]Loading...["World Without End (comic story)"]) and by 2017 Torchwood had officially returned, having to deal with temporary holes in space time which brought through new alien phenomena in Cardiff despite the apparent closing of the Rift years prior, which they weren't sure was a sign of the Rift reopening or simply the position in Cardiff being vulnerable. At this point, Gwen, who dealt with most of these incursions with assistance from PC Andy Davidson while Rhys looked after their daughter Anwen, approached Roger Pugh, Planning Officer for Cardiff City Council, in order to establish a new Torchwood Cardiff facility which would replace the long-gone Hub. After Gwen showed Roger a day of her work first hand, he gave her his support. (AUDIO: More Than This [+]Loading...["More Than This (audio story)"]) Gwen investigated Talmouth after the town went quiet for some time and discovered an alien entity had decimated the town, (AUDIO: Made You Look [+]Loading...["Made You Look (audio story)"]) was targeted by another alien entity whilst with Rhys (AUDIO: We Always Get Out Alive [+]Loading...["We Always Get Out Alive (audio story)"]) and encountered the Fendahl. (AUDIO: Night of the Fendahl [+]Loading...["Night of the Fendahl (audio story)"]) Gwen had Rhys place his mother Brenda undercover in a care home to investigate the new Sonny robots being tested there. (AUDIO: Sonny [+]Loading...["Sonny (audio story)"])
Jack Harkness returned to his old role as leader and a civil servant, St John Colchester was assigned to the team to assist with Torchwood's reestablishment. The team moved back into the ruins of the Hub and took to using a Smart Car. (AUDIO: Changes Everything [+]Loading...["Changes Everything (audio story)"]) Torchwood recruited Tania Bell, a tenant in 107 Baker Street, to keep an eye out for the Doctor as he was known to visit the address. (AUDIO: Must-See TV [+]Loading...["Must-See TV (audio story)"])
After government funding for Torchwood's reestablishment was cut following a report that stated the Rift was no longer a threat Torchwood was left struggling for resources, even having to leach power from a nearby fusion restaurant. (AUDIO: Changes Everything [+]Loading...["Changes Everything (audio story)"]) At some point Gwen was secretly possessed by Ng, who continued in her job at Torchwood. (AUDIO: Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy [+]Loading...["Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy (audio story)"]) Torchwood defeated an artificial intelligence which sentient algorithm Friend had placed inside adverts and were aware that something was behind it, however became distracted. (AUDIO: How I Conquered the World [+]Loading...["How I Conquered the World (audio story)"])
Sorvix occupation[[edit] | [edit source]]
With tensions in Cardiff rising due to an increase in hate crimes, Torchwood began investigating 3Sol and rescued disgraced journalist Tyler Steele from falling victim of a bomb whilst he was looking into them. Torchwood considered recruiting him, however his reckless actions when he went to confront Vorsun at 3Sol led to innocent deaths. After killing Vorsun, proving she was an alien, Jack turned down Tyler. (AUDIO: Changes Everything [+]Loading...["Changes Everything (audio story)"]) Taking advantage of an alien hen night, Ng and Colchester learnt details of the aliens discreetly taking over Cardiff, the Sorvix. (AUDIO: Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy [+]Loading...["Aliens & Sex & Chips & Gravy (audio story)"])
Torchwood dealt with many problems created by the Sorvix's presence, including helping a former slave of theirs, Orr, who joined the team, (AUDIO: Orr [+]Loading...["Orr (audio story)"]) investigating a Sorvix run hotel exclusively for aliens that was killing its guests, (AUDIO: Superiority Complex [+]Loading...["Superiority Complex (audio story)"]) and an outbreak of an alien parasite that had come through the Rift with them. (AUDIO: Love Rat [+]Loading...["Love Rat (audio story)"]) Around this time, Jack investigated Proper Grub with Jo Jones, (AUDIO: The Green Life [+]Loading...["The Green Life (audio story)"]) and Mr Colchester faced Bilis Manger, whose manipulation of the residents of Ritz Tower put his husband in danger. (AUDIO: A Kill to a View [+]Loading...["A Kill to a View (audio story)"]) Jack and Orr attended a speech by conspiracy theorist Brent Hayden, who went on to irritate Mr Colchester by bumping into him regularly. (AUDIO: The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood [+]Loading...["The Man Who Destroyed Torchwood (audio story)"])
Jack spent a number of weeks away from Torchwood, making contact with the Red Doors terrorists. Whilst he was away Torchwood investigated Andy Davidson's murder of a refugee, discovering the Sorvix had implanted quantum splices in police officers to manipulate them to discredit the police force. Confronting Ro-Jedda, Ng threatened to expose this plan publicly however Jack interrupted and overrode her, believing this would causd chaos, reaching a compromise with Ro-Jedda to enable her to install 3Sol in policing, as she'd intended, without bloodshed. His actions and absence led to the team angrily confronting him in the Hub, prompting Yvonne Hartman, (AUDIO: The Empty Hand [+]Loading...["The Empty Hand (audio story)"]) from a parallel universe, to reveal herself. Framing Jack as a terrorist by exposing his dealings with Red Doors, she took over Torchwood and told him to put Red Doors to better use. (AUDIO: Poker Face [+]Loading...["Poker Face (audio story)"]) Under her leadership, Torchwood dealt with the Meme which was inspiring acts of violence in Cardiff, (AUDIO: Tagged [+]Loading...["Tagged (audio story)"]) and an Escape Room run by a Sorvix. (AUDIO: Escape Room [+]Loading...["Escape Room (audio story)"])
After they bombed the airport, Torchwood moved against Red Doors, with Orr working with Jack and Inspector Bernstein whilst Yvonne directed 3Sol's operations, having made an agreement to collaborate with Ro-Jedda for the benefit of the country. The Rift began opening, despite Mr Colchester's efforts to control it with the Manipulator, as the Hub was attacked by a Sorvix assassin purusing Tyler Steele, with Colchester being shot. Ng intervened in time to kill the assassin and frantically demanded the Rift be closed, but was stopped by Jack and Orr who had returned after Andy confirmed Jack's suspicions about Gwen. The briefly opened Rift split Gwen and Ng. Whilst Tyler and Orr took Colchester to the hospital, Gwen awoke and decided to leave Torchwood to start a new life after her ordeal. (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn [+]Loading...["Herald of the Dawn (audio story)"]) Mr Colchester succumbed to his injuries. (AUDIO: Future Pain [+]Loading...["Future Pain (audio story)"])
After the City Hall was bombed and the Rift opened heralding the arrival of God, (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn [+]Loading...["Herald of the Dawn (audio story)"]) Yvonne had Ro-Jedda imprisoned in the Hub and put Ng in the cell next door to pump her information. Whilst the rest of the team attended Mr Colchester's funeral, combating a Plasmic psychovore which had followed them there, Yvonne discovered the Sorvix had fled Cardiff. Orr persuaded Jack to rejoin Torchwood, due to their distrust of Yvonne's motives. Yvonne subsequently released Ng and killed Ro-Jedda. (AUDIO: Future Pain [+]Loading...["Future Pain (audio story)"]) Ng was allowed to join Torchwood. (AUDIO: Hostile Environment [+]Loading...["Hostile Environment (audio story)"])
God in Cardiff[[edit] | [edit source]]
With the Sorvix God on the loose in the city, Torchwood faced a predator hunting in a complete blackout placed on the city, (AUDIO: See No Evil [+]Loading...["See No Evil (audio story)"]) and the Night Sun. During the Night Sun's influence Colchester resurfaced, having been resurrected, and Orr was recruited by God to collect the Light. (AUDIO: Night Watch [+]Loading...["Night Watch (audio story)"]) Orr was then chosen a true believer by God, who made them a conduit for their power, (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers [+]Loading...["Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)"]) disappearing from Torchwood.
Yvonne decided to use the pharadyne projector on a recruitment drive, aiming to bring back Ianto Jones, however Norton Folgate appeared instead. (AUDIO: Night Watch [+]Loading...["Night Watch (audio story)"]) After working with Yvonne and Andy Davidson to retrieve the Lens from Flight 405, Norton joined the team, claiming he was needed as the end of the world was near. (AUDIO: Flight 405 [+]Loading...["Flight 405 (audio story)"]) Torchwood subsequently dealt with alien mold in the reservoir and Tyler Steele forced Colchester and Ng to help him stop Oblation, which was targeting Cardiff's homeless for experiments using leftover Sorvix technology, after which Jack let him live in the Hub. (AUDIO: Hostile Environment [+]Loading...["Hostile Environment (audio story)"])
Yvonne and Norton both worked for the Committee, with Norton believing they would help Torchwood control the Rift for good using the Sorvix power plant. (AUDIO: Eye of the Storm [+]Loading...["Eye of the Storm (audio story)"]) As the Committee's plan progressed, God tested the Torchwood team using Evolved body-swapping technology she'd stolen. (AUDIO: Another Man's Shoes [+]Loading...["Another Man's Shoes (audio story)"]) When the Sorvix power plant was discovered Yvonne and Norton carried out the Committee's plan, with Norton leading Jack, Ng and Colchester to the power plant only to betray them whilst Yvonne commanded from the Hub. Realising the Committee's plan would actually destroy the world, Norton stopped it with the discreet aid of God, trapping homself back aboard Flight 405 in the process, however in doing so God caused a tsunami as balance. Unaware the Committee had planned this, Yvonne initially refused to act due to her orders but Tyler persuaded her to raise the alarm in Cardiff and open the Rift as much as possible to absorb the tidal wave. (AUDIO: Eye of the Storm [+]Loading...["Eye of the Storm (audio story)"]) The tsunami resulted in severe damage to Cardiff with the Committee using the Disaster Recovery Committee to take control of the city in the aftermath. (AUDIO: A Mother's Son [+]Loading...["A Mother's Son (audio story)"]) Andy Davidson became its director, though was secretly loyal to Jack. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers [+]Loading...["Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)"]) The Disaster Recovery Committee's inquiry pinned the blame on Torchwood after Yvonne's attempts to use Retcon to cover up their involvement failed. (AUDIO: A Mother's Son [+]Loading...["A Mother's Son (audio story)"]) Jack allowed this to happen, believing Torchwood should be buried. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers [+]Loading...["Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)"])
Torchwood was publicly derided as a result and the DRC locked them out of the Hub. During this time Ng and Colchester investigated ScrapeJane, an urban myth that had become real due to God's presence. (AUDIO: ScrapeJane [+]Loading...["ScrapeJane (audio story)"]) When Cardiff ran out of clean drinking water, Torchwood attempted to defuse the escalating situation at Ritz Tower after Orr was discovered there producing water. Their efforts failed, with Jack being shot dead and Yvonne placed under house arrest. Orr disappeared again, (AUDIO: Day Zero [+]Loading...["Day Zero (audio story)"]) but was found by Ng and Colchester, as the competing thoughts and prayers of humanity caused God's energy within them to began to destroy Earth.
Jack revived and took God to the Hub as Tyler helped Yvonne reach the facility, where they discovered the Committee had setup a dimension bridge to Erebus. Andy brought Orr, Colchester and Ng to the Hub just as the Committee's final form began to arrive. Telling the others to leave, Yvonne used the Lens to redirect Orr's energy through the Rift, destroying the Committee and saving the world. Jack then rescued Yvonne and Orr from the collapsing Hub using the invisible lift.
Andy warned the team that Torchwood was being blamed for the recent disasters by the government and surviving Committee members were seeking revenge, so Jack, Ng, Orr, Tyler and Colchester fled the city. Yvonne stayed behind, forcing Andy to arrest her. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers [+]Loading...["Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)"]) Torchwood was shut down again following this incident, (AUDIO: Dead Time [+]Loading...["Dead Time (audio story)"]) and Yvonne was tried in secret and then imprisoned at HMP Whitcastle. (AUDIO: At Her Majesty's Pleasure [+]Loading...["At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)"]) In 2020, the Thirteenth Doctor was aware that Torchwood, along with UNIT, were both "gone". (TV: Spyfall [+]Loading...["Spyfall (TV story)"])
Split up[[edit] | [edit source]]
The team split up, losing contact with Jack entirely. (AUDIO: Aliens Next Door [+]Loading...["Aliens Next Door (audio story)"]) From her imprisonment, Yvonne continued to discreetly control Torchwood by using a temp agency to direct the scattered members on missions. The team were unaware who they truly working for. Yvonne began to suspect another force acting in the same shadows as them, (AUDIO: Pariahs [+]Loading...["Pariahs (audio story)"]) which was the sentient algorithm Friend. (AUDIO: How I Conquered the World [+]Loading...["How I Conquered the World (audio story)"])
Mr Colchester averted an invasion by the Savash in Newport by using the news to convince their leader Earth wasn't worth invading. (AUDIO: A Postcard from Mr Colchester [+]Loading...["A Postcard from Mr Colchester (audio story)"])
At Yvonne's direction, (AUDIO: Pariahs [+]Loading...["Pariahs (audio story)"]) whilst in hiding Ng took Orr on a mission to investigate a cul-de-sac she suspected was part of an experiment, in part also to determine how God's abilities had affected Orr. (AUDIO: Aliens Next Door [+]Loading...["Aliens Next Door (audio story)"]) Mr Colchester continued missions in secret, including meeting arms dealers in Australia, and eventually returned to Cardiff to rescue his husband Colin Colchester-Price from a mysterious organisation interrogating Colin and manipulating events to make his life miserable. He then helped Colin go into hiding. (AUDIO: Colin Alone [+]Loading...["Colin Alone (audio story)"]) Hoping to bring the team back together, Ng travelled to Iceland to meet Gwen and Rhys and ask if they could contact Jack, which they couldn't. After helping Ng confront the cosmic force she'd once made a deal with that was now seeking her, and seeing how much Ng had changed in the process, Gwen did supply money to an emergency Torchwood bank account. (AUDIO: Misty Eyes [+]Loading...["Misty Eyes (audio story)"])
In the alternate 2020 resulting from the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS crash landing, (AUDIO: Crossed Lines [+]Loading...["Crossed Lines (audio story)"]) Andy Davidson went to London to meet Tania Bell at 107 Baker Street after she'd reported the Eighth Doctor was now living in the property. (AUDIO: Must-See TV [+]Loading...["Must-See TV (audio story)"]) Andy and Tania went with the Doctor and his companions Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair on the first flight in the recovering TARDIS, during which Andy finally confessed to Tania that Torchwood had been shut down months ago after the incident in the bay. (AUDIO: Dead Time [+]Loading...["Dead Time (audio story)"]) They continued to assist the Doctor as he investigated Earth's future timeline being altered, now resulting in humanity being ruled by Divine Intervention until a premature extinction. (AUDIO: The Long Way Round [+]Loading...["The Long Way Round (audio story)"], Patience [+]Loading...["Patience (audio story)"], Twisted Folklore [+]Loading...["Twisted Folklore (audio story)"], Snow [+]Loading...["Snow (audio story)"]) On one such investigation to the future Andy was trapped on a spaceship, which was stuck on course with a space station's reactor, (AUDIO: What Just Happened? [+]Loading...["What Just Happened? (audio story)"]) however he was saved through the aid of the Doctor, Mr Bird and Helen. (AUDIO: Get Andy [+]Loading...["Get Andy (audio story)"]) After the Doctor's scheme to alter history to change the future went awry and dissolved the entire alternate timeline, Andy and Tania helped reset the timeline, restoring the true 2020 in doing so. (AUDIO: The Keys of Baker Street [+]Loading...["The Keys of Baker Street (audio story)"])
In the true 2020, Andy and Tania retained memories of the alternate year and continued to assist the Doctor and his companions live in Baker Street through the COVID-19 pandemic, as they could not leave until the end of the year for fear of destabilising the timeline. (AUDIO: Best Year Ever [+]Loading...["Best Year Ever (audio story)"]) Sometime after the virus, Mr Colchester was lured into a trap by the Unity under the guise of an appeal for Torchwood's aid by a foreign government, which he escaped with the aid of A Charitable Earth's CEO Dorothy McShane, (AUDIO: The Red List [+]Loading...["The Red List (audio story)"]) Tyler worked with Colchester to monitor threats to journalist Petra Malik, (AUDIO: Moderation [+]Loading...["Moderation (audio story)"]) Orr investigated Voloshnik where something had seemingly killed all but one person in the city, (AUDIO: Propaganda [+]Loading...["Propaganda (audio story)"]) and Tania's contacts alerted her to disappearances centring on Flatpack. She took Liv there to investigate where they encountered the Ninth Doctor. (AUDIO: Flatpack [+]Loading...["Flatpack (audio story)"]) Tyler helped Yvonne escape HMP Whitcastle as per emergency plan 22, which she'd hinted at to him via hand signals at her trial, through using block transfer computations and manipulating Andy. (AUDIO: At Her Majesty's Pleasure [+]Loading...["At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)"])
In the team's absence, the abandoned Hub was infiltrated by Bilis Manger. Three urban explorers explored the site at the same time and one of them, Vijay Meghani, was recruited by the Torchwood emergency hologram in an attempt to stop Bilis stealing Torchwood technology, which Bilis instead destroyed by flooding the building with Rift scar energy. (AUDIO: Cuckoo [+]Loading...["Cuckoo (audio story)"])
Combating Friend[[edit] | [edit source]]
At Yvonne's direction, Ng, Colchester, Orr and Tyler worked together to ensure the inquiry into Phlobos succeeded by getting two key witnesses safely to the inquiry, exposing that their data had been used to create a nano weapon capable of targeting individuals' DNA. However the weapon then activated, having been carried in one witnesses, killing everyone in the inquiry room except Torchwood. As armed police who had been pursuing them closed in, the team realised they'd been set up. (AUDIO: Pariahs [+]Loading...["Pariahs (audio story)"]) In that moment sentient algorithm Friend psychically broadcast to the team, explaining its role in manipulating recent events, in what Orr viewed as bragging. Yvonne then rescued them in a tank and they made their way back to Cardiff, setting up base in Yvonne's temp agency, Temporary Solutions, at the bay. (AUDIO: How I Conquered the World [+]Loading...["How I Conquered the World (audio story)"])
Torchwood prevented an inter-dimensional alien takeover of A Charitable Earth, with Colchester personally protecting Dorothy McShane from the aliens' attempts to assassinate her in Venice. (AUDIO: Death in Venice [+]Loading...["Death in Venice (audio story)"])
Ng, Orr, Colchester and Tyler investigated a series of influencer deaths, discovering they were connected by an app, PeopleFluid, run entirely virtually. In their attempt to investigate they caused the death of an influencer, Chris, who Tyler had grown close to. After his death Friend revealed they were responsible for PeopleFluid and Colchester saw to the app's removal by using Chris' persona to start a campaign to give it one-star reviews. (AUDIO: Doomscroll [+]Loading...["Doomscroll (audio story)"])
Talking Tyler back into the fold, Yvonne had the team carry out an heist on Deadcoin's headquarters in Caracassonne to prevent an auction of Friend's DNA weapon. In truth the heist was feint to distract Friend so Torchwood's Icelandic counterparts, whom Yvonne knew were looking to one-up Torchwood as part of a takeover bid and were also looking into Deadcoin, could steal the crypto-currency's servers in Iceland. This provoked Friend into beginning its endgame, as Yvonne had intended. (AUDIO: Heistland [+]Loading...["Heistland (audio story)"])
Torchwood foiled Friend's plan to broadcast a kill signal to activate the weapon on Janet's Late Teatime by hacking the show the night before, promising the apocalypse at the following programme, and then manipulating Janet to create panic and anger aimed at phones and internet infrastructure. This resulted in the show's internet broadcast breaking down at the moment of activation and Friend losing its connection to its host body. Though Torchwood believed Friend defeated, it managed to upload itself to a back-up host. (AUDIO: The Apocalypse Starts at 6 PM [+]Loading...["The Apocalypse Starts at 6 PM (audio story)"])
With Torchwood in need of money, Colchester took a job as a security consultant for mining company Vultura, whose operations in India were being sabotaged, as he also suspected they were drilling into an alien toxic waste dump. With his suspicions confirmed, he helped Dorothy McShane blow up the facility. (AUDIO: Sabotage [+]Loading...["Sabotage (audio story)"])
Operations in the 2020s[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2023, Tyler sent Rani Chandra a tip off about The Witching Tree restaurant. Realising from detections of aliens whilst calling her that Rani had been setup, Tyler called in Clyde Langer and rushed to the restaurant where he helped her and Clyde halt an alien invasion brought about by the tree and Phoenix Laight. (AUDIO: The Witching Tree [+]Loading...["The Witching Tree (audio story)"])
Andy carried out missions for Torchwood, (AUDIO: Red Base [+]Loading...["Red Base (audio story)"], The Restoration of Catherine [+]Loading...["The Restoration of Catherine (audio story)"]) including travelling to the 1950s by vortex manipulator to correct an anomaly detected by the Torchwood computer. (AUDIO: Parasite [+]Loading...["Parasite (audio story)"])
Yvonne took the lead in the crisis caused by the release of a photon cloud from a Quarshi spaceship the government had shot down in Middlesbrough, in the process incapacitating a number of people in government and media who were in her way. (AUDIO: The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough [+]Loading...["The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough (audio story)"])
At Christmas Mr Colchester sent a warning about the Appledores’ round robin Christmas card, as it was actually a telepathic alien weapon. (AUDIO: A Christmas Card from Mr Colchester [+]Loading...["A Christmas Card from Mr Colchester (audio story)"])
Late 21st century[[edit] | [edit source]]
According to Bilis Manger, who claimed to be able to foresee future threats of humanity, years after the 2020s Torchwood would face a Gelth invasion and the chimes of death. (AUDIO: Cuckoo [+]Loading...["Cuckoo (audio story)"])
By the 2060s, Torchwood had become more accepting of aliens, attempting to protect them instead of just stop them. They were also able to control the Rift to an extent. In 2069, when Freda's house was destroyed by anti-alien groups, a member of Torchwood was able to save her and sent her back in time to 2009, trying to cause the development of Torchwood's alien policy. (AUDIO: Asylum [+]Loading...["Asylum (audio story)"])
Undated[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood investigated Llandyth after the village's population disappeared for three days, discovering alien cataloguers had abducted them for studies as they had periodically for centuries. (AUDIO: Widdershins [+]Loading...["Widdershins (audio story)"])
Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]
Sources need to be provided to paragraphs.
Emily Holroyd's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Emily Holroyd led a team from 1897-1901. She burned one unknown agent, who later succumbed to a mutative infection and became new queen of a snake-like race. Known members included Alice Guppy, (active circa 1899-1901) Charles Gaskell, (active circa 1899-1901) and Jack Harkness. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"], Exit Wounds [+]Loading...["Exit Wounds (TV story)"])
Gerald Kneale's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Gerald Kneale led his team from 1907-1919. Physicist Harriet Derbyshire was a member from 1918 to 1919 until she was killed in active service. Douglas Caldwell was on the team from 1914 to 1930. Secretary Lydia Childs was active from 1918 to 1941, later dying in 1941, before August. Charles Quinn was a member between 1939 and 1945, killed in a World War II air raid. (TV: To the Last Man [+]Loading...["To the Last Man (TV story)"]) Jack Harkness remained on the team as a freelance agent. (TV: From Out of the Rain [+]Loading...["From Out of the Rain (TV story)"], Immortal Sins [+]Loading...["Immortal Sins (TV story)"], Small Worlds [+]Loading...["Small Worlds (TV story)"])
Tilda Brennan's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Tilda Brennan, the new leader was active during 1941. She was killed by Jack Harkness, who shot her. Members included Greg Bishop, Llinos King, Rhydian and Jack Harkness, as a freelance agent. (PROSE: The Twilight Streets [+]Loading...["The Twilight Streets (novel)"])
Alex Hopkins' team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Alex Hopkins led his team prior New Year's Eve 1999. He later killed members Karen Baldwin, James Unsworth, Ariana and the others after opening Object 1. Only Jack Harkness remained given his immortality. (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]; AUDIO: Red Skies [+]Loading...["Red Skies (audio story)"], The Torchwood Archive [+]Loading...["The Torchwood Archive (audio story)"])
Jack Harkness' team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Jack Harkness made and led a new team throughout the 2000s. Members consisted of weapons expert and former second-in-command Suzie Costello, technological genius Toshiko Sato, action enthusiast Sebastian Vaughan, (AUDIO: The Vigil [+]Loading...["The Vigil (audio story)"]) doctor Owen Harper, factotum Ianto Jones and police liaison, field agent and de facto second-in-command Gwen Cooper. (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"] etc.)
Whilst Jack headhunted Suzie, (AUDIO: Moving Target [+]Loading...["Moving Target (audio story)"]) Tosh and Owen, Ianto (TV: Fragments [+]Loading...["Fragments (TV story)"]) and Gwen (TV: Everything Changes [+]Loading...["Everything Changes (TV story)"]) approached him themselves whilst Sebastian's hiring was arranged by his father. (AUDIO: The Vigil [+]Loading...["The Vigil (audio story)"])
Gwen Cooper's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Gwen Cooper, as acting director, restarted Torchwood Three in 2016. At this time the team consisted solely of herself and Rhys Williams. (AUDIO: More Than This [+]Loading...["More Than This (audio story)"], Made You Look [+]Loading...["Made You Look (audio story)"]) However by 2017, Jack Harkness had returned to the team in a leadership capacity and civil servant Mr Colchester was appointed to oversee the restoration of the Hub. (AUDIO: Changes Everything [+]Loading...["Changes Everything (audio story)"]) At some point, Gwen was possessed by an alien known as Ng (AUDIO: Herald of the Dawn [+]Loading...["Herald of the Dawn (audio story)"]) and sexual psychomorph Orr joined the team not long after. (AUDIO: Orr [+]Loading...["Orr (audio story)"])
Yvonne Hartman's team[[edit] | [edit source]]
Jack Harkness was deposed by Yvonne Hartman after the rest of Torchwood became dismayed by his secretiveness. (AUDIO: Poker Face [+]Loading...["Poker Face (audio story)"]) Yvonne's team consisted of herself, Mr Colchester, Orr, Ng and later Jack himself. They were later briefly joined by Norton Folgate while Orr disappeared for a while. (AUDIO: Flight 405 [+]Loading...["Flight 405 (audio story)"]) Tyler Steele finally joined the team in an official capacity after being offered a place to live in the Hub by Yvonne. (AUDIO: Hostile Environment [+]Loading...["Hostile Environment (audio story)"]) By 2020, Tania Bell was also a member of Torchwood Three, while Andy Davidson continued to work closely with the group. (AUDIO: Must-See TV [+]Loading...["Must-See TV (audio story)"])
With Yvonne arrested, (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers [+]Loading...["Thoughts and Prayers (audio story)"]) the team split up after being forced to go on the run, losing contact with Jack entirely. (AUDIO: Aliens Next Door [+]Loading...["Aliens Next Door (audio story)"]) The remaining team worked together on occasion, (AUDIO: Moderation [+]Loading...["Moderation (audio story)"], At Her Majesty's Pleasure [+]Loading...["At Her Majesty's Pleasure (audio story)"], Pariahs [+]Loading...["Pariahs (audio story)"]) and finally regrouped at a temp agency in Cardiff. (AUDIO: How I Conquered the World [+]Loading...["How I Conquered the World (audio story)"])
Members of other teams[[edit] | [edit source]]
Other miscellaneous members included Philip Lyle (active circa 1898), Kenneth Valentine (active ????-1967; died 1967), Charles Cromwell (active circa 1945-1975; died 2006), Lucia Moretti (active 1965-1977; died 2006) and Martin Gibbons (active circa 1987).
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Torchwood website[[edit] | [edit source]]
The series 2 version of the Torchwood website showed a diary entry describing how Alice Guppy (unnamed in the text) became a member of Torchwood Three. It said that Emily Holroyd, whom had previously been married, had a husband, whose situation in late 1898 was "complex".
After the death of one of Emily's team, Alice, expecting a reprimand for having wounded Mrs Hailsham in the laundry room on 12 September 1898, was given a contract on the 13th to be employed as an Investigations Agent for Torchwood by the governess, and have her charges dropped by signing it.
The following day, Emily collected Alice for the trip to Cardiff. She informed her of the death of Emily's previous partner in Torchwood, whom had succumbed to a "mutative infection", becoming the new queen of a snake-like race. Emily was "obliged" to burn her partner to death. She also told Alice what the Torchwood Institute was about.
On the 15th, she noted her diary would become "less comprehensive" from then on, due to the sensitive information her experiences with Torchwood would entail. Her diary entry for that day also notes that as early as 1898, Torchwood Three's underground base was already "sprawling and untidy, but [...] filled with curious & sometimes wondrous equipment". She says her patrol begins on the night of the 16th.[1]
The series 1 version of the Torchwood website had a "rift memo", dated 13 April 1913. It alerted the "chief" that on that day there was a sudden increase in Rift activity that manifested as "a series of small ground tremors". It was concerned about Robertson's conclusions from the data: it seemed to be a ripple from a "much bigger" event, or "[a]n aftershock washing back to towards us through time – call it a preshock, if you will." Robertson calculated that it orginated at some point in the 21st century. The memo claimed that Cardiff has "got about a century to go before the rift tears it apart." It said it "might be an idea" to increase safeguards on the rift manipulator.[2]
On the series 2 version of the Torchwood website, Owen Harper did a report on the "wild goose chase" Torchwood Three went on that was mentioned by Harold Saxon during The Sound of Drums. At 5am, Ianto Jones picked up a phone call telling Torchwood about "[s]omething funny going on in the Himalayas", which Ianto specified was in Pakistan. Ianto claimed to Owen that the call came from UNIT, who were "already there", calling for "all four of us" — Owen, Ianto, Toshiko Sato and Gwen Cooper, and that according to them it was connected to Abaddon.
Torchwood were briefed that there was apparently another space-time rift, halfway up K2. While Tosh was setting up rift-detecting equipment at the location on K2 that was given, a humanoid doll resembling their missing leader, Captain Jack Harkness — described by Owen as "quite a good likeness" — was rigged to jump out of the snow from a spring at the moment the equipment was activated. Owen dubbed it a "Jack-in-the-box", adding, "How bleeding hilarious." The team realised it was a set-up. After two days waiting for transport, Torchwood Three headed back home.
On the trip back, they learnt Saxon had won the election, murdered the American President and was himself murdered by his wife. Owen noted from this that "a week really is a long time in politics".[3]
Doctor Who: Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
In the story of Doctor Who: Legacy, Jack Harkness, whilst travelling with the Doctors and their companions, provides co-ordinates to find his Torchwood teammates to help repair the timeline.
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ see Aliens of London dating controversy for why this cannot be dated more precisely.
Citations[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ Episodes - Fragments - Diary. BBC - Torchwood (13-15 September 1898). Retrieved on 24 July 2013.
- ↑ End of Days - Rift memo, 1913. Torchwood website (13 April 1913). Archived from the original on 27 August 2007. Retrieved on 24 July 2013.
- ↑ Harper, O. Episodes - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Mission Report #2008/043. BBC - Torchwood. Retrieved on 24 July 2013.
| |||||||||||||||||||
